Of Lions and Men
by LionKingAlex
Summary: One day, during Simba's exile in the jungle, the young cub is rescued from a pair of ferocious leopards by a certain jungle man named Tarzan. What occurs between them later is an unbreakable friendship that will be remembered throughout the future of the jungle and its inhabitants. Note: Collab with Stegosaurus1412.
1. Ambush

Stories of faces that came from the far-flung rainforests of Africa are rarely heard anywhere outside those parts, but this story shook all of the land, because it changed the fate of a distant, unrelated kingdom for its better, and became a wide-known legend that would echo forever in time; because it saved one of the greatest kingdom of lions in Africa from tyranny and death: the Pride Lands. This is a tale of the friendship between two unlikely friends, a friendship between lion and man, whose union restored the Pride Lands to its former glory...

It all began in a jungle. When it met the eye, it seemed like a haven, more beautiful than anything you could imagine, a vast expanse of green forest with towering trees, and birds soaring over the horizon, past a roaring waterfall... One would think that down beneath the canopies it would be the same, that it would be as serene as lying on your back and watching the jungle from afar. Should you think that, you would be immediately deceived. Underneath the trees, there is nothing calming about the jungle. The noise of the birds would cause unrest due to the inability to make out other sounds, and thus not knowing what will come out after you, until it's too late. Beautiful indeed, but no less deadly, with various predators, of all shapes and sizes, crawling in the undergrowth, swimming in the river, sneaking through the foliage, watching from the trees... With vines creeping up the trunks and hanging from the branches, and bushes appearing with every second step you took, one could not help the feeling that he is constantly being watched. There are so many things to explore, which add to the easy possibility of getting lost in the vast expanses of trees. Only the watering holes and open clearings were more quiet, and offered some rest from the everyday jungle hum. An untamed wilderness, it was, indeed.

However, among the lower plants of the jungle walked a sight uncommon in these parts: a lion cub, with golden fur, orange eyes and a lowered head. His name was Simba, and he was about seven months old. One would say, upon seeing him, that he is a healthy, handsome young cub that wouldn't have a single worry in the world. What they do not know is that he was the prince of the Pride Lands, before he came to the jungles. He was the son of the royal family: king Mufasa, and queen Sarabi, respectively, one of the most noble leaders of the savannas. King Mufasa had raised Simba in a just, appropriate matter, helping him discern right from wrong, and knowing when to act courageously, and when to approach with caution. However, one day he was trapped in a panicked stampede of wildebeest, in a gorge, after he was told by his uncle, Scar, to wait for a surprise from his father. Mufasa lost his life trying to save Simba, and the young cub helplessly fled into the wilderlands, not knowing what to do, and how to live with the guilt that his uncle lay upon him, accusing him of his father's death. He clawed for breath in the vast deserts that lay near the jungles, and eventually collapsed due to fatigue and weakness. Before he could be pecked apart by the resident vultures, he was saved by Timon, a wisecracking meerkat, and Pumbaa, a compassionate warthog, two voracious friends who indulged a relaxed life in the jungles where they feasted on larvae, insects and worms. They adopted Simba and taught him their way of life, also known as _Hakuna Matata_ , or "no worries", to help him give some vent to his soul, and enjoy his life to the fullest by forgetting all of his past in favor of living in the moment and taking advantage of every bounty it was to offer.

Today, the youngling felt like there was nothing to enjoy at all, as if everything he held dear was far, far away from him, in a land that he called home that he left behind him long ago. A dozen thoughts cut through his mind at once, all of them reflecting on his friends and family, their thoughts on the stampede, whether they knew that it was his fault, and if they even remember him by now: _"What did mom think of this? Does she know where I am? Does anyone know? Do they miss me? Where is Nala?..."_ He wanted to be alone to ponder this. He could not talk to Timon and Pumbaa about this, because he knew they wouldn't understand, due to not knowing or caring much about his past life. Despite all the circumstances that were aimed against him, the young golden cub passionately yearned to go back to the great plains glistening in the sun, to his great sleeping chamber in Pride Rock, filled with golden light, where he once had a future, something to look forward to, and cherish: a family, friends, the duties of a king. But he thought himself that he was unworthy of returning home, for Scar's words have carved in his mind a memory so deep and bitter, that not one day passed that Simba does not at least think of it, if not cry at the memory. He felt that he betrayed his own kin that fateful day in the gorge. He felt like an outcast. And at times like these, he had to be alone, for only he could understand the pain...

Eventually, he had arrived upon a small watering hole and laid himself on a rock just above it, gazing at his own reflection and thinking of all the things that have come to pass while he was happy, trying to ease the pain himself. Even though the concern of Timon and Pumbaa for his well-being were of great help in these difficult times, he still felt that he needed some time to keep to himself, to save the slightest memory of who he truly was, not fully caving into the life of Hakuna Matata. He missed both his mother and his father dearly, as well as his escort of friends. Not since his exile has he seen any other lion. He felt caustic, lonely, and confused without the company of his own kind, and in some ways, he was starting to forget what it is like to be a lion.

Until, a loud rustle from nearby broke the natural hum of the jungle, and the young cub twitched at this sudden, unfamiliar sound. He could see a black form in the bushes ahead. Growing increasingly afraid, he squinted ahead to try and make out what it could be, and eventually noticed that it was a large, black male leopard that was crouching ahead, possibly trying to attack him. Simba tried his best to take a silent, deep breath, and quietly creep away, until he heard the sound of a snarl from behind, which showed that there was someone else here too: his fur stood up as his skin crawled and pupils dilated in horror, and all he could do was decide when the time to run was...

...and it was _**now**_.

Simba ran to the right, into the undergrowth, desperately trying to figure out where Timon and Pumbaa's resting place was, but to no avail, because he had completely forgotten where he was, and it didn't matter as much to him now as did saving his own skin. The two leopards quickly gave pursuit: one of them stayed on the jungle floor and directly followed the golden cub, while one leaped straight into the trees, following the golden dot that trailed through the underbrush, followed by its companions. It was of no surprise that these two male leopards were bent on killing Simba, for they feared that lion cubs would grow to be more powerful than them, and eventually supplant them as lords of their territory. In that fear, they greedily exiled or killed any other predators that they would perceive as a threat, especially lions,

"He's a fast one, Nuru!" one of them said, as he tried to keep up with Simba, by avoiding the obstacles that Simba was passing through.

"Keep going, Sheeta!" the other said, as he kept leaping on the tree branches.

Eventually, during this reckless race, Simba would trip, tumble and fall into a small clearing among the trees padded with leaves, and with gorillas sitting or lying around. Paying them no heed, the cub raced through, avoiding the large apes, until, Nuru jumped on him from the canopy, pinning him beneath his paw: "Gotcha!"

The gorillas scattered and beheld the scene, waiting for the right time to act if necessary, hooting and crying at the leopards to drive them off. The two leopards growled and snarled at the apes, Nuru holding a firm grip on the young cub, and Sheeta circling the apes to intimidate them. Simba groaned as he tried to struggle out of the grip, but to no avail, for the leopard held on strongly, being very close to bearing his claws. Sheeta approached and asked: "Are there any more of you pushy thieves hiding where you shouldn't?"

"Let me go, I don't kn-" Simba still struggled to break free from Nuru's grasp, when he was interrupted by a hiss from the black leopard's toothy jaws: "Don't worry, kid... It won't be long before we're through with you... for good!" he then unsheathed his claws and prepared to strike, when he, and everyone else, heard a loud, echoing battle cry: it did not sound like any other animal that Simba has heard before...

With the cry came the increasing sound of rustling in the nearby trees, when everyone beheld a large, reddish bull forest elephant crashing through the trees, and on it rode what seemed to be a fairly large, bald ape with long, brown hair, tanned skin and a fairly defined, muscular torso. He dismounted his elephant comrade, spear in hand, and threw Nuru down with a dropkick. In the meantime, the elephant grabbed Sheeta by his tail and flung him into a tangle of vines, where he became stuck, unable to free himself. The bald ape wrestled on with Nuru, who was tenaciously gnawing at his spear, trying to break it with his canine teeth. However, Tarzan purposefully threw himself down onto his back to allow the leopard to climb on top of him, and then, he vigorously kicked the cat in its stomach with both feet, throwing him off and into the air, as he tumbled down a small ledge that led to a small jungle river. Sheeta was slingshot by the elephant from the vines, and flew across the trees. It was now debatable if they would reunite any time soon.

"Tarzan, thank goodness you came." one of the gorillas said, addressing the man as she approached him, touching him on the shoulder with her arm. Hearing this, the golden cub knew the bald ape's name.

"Is everyone alright? Are you all there?" Tarzan asked, his deep, gentle voice ringing with heartfelt concern for the well-being of these apes, implying that he was one of them, which confused Simba, as he never saw a creature like him before.

"What's that?" a younger gorilla asked, pointing its finger straight at Simba...


	2. The King of The Apes

Simba looked about and saw that all the apes' eyes were aimed towards him, inspecting, analyzing and wondering what he was and where he came from: he was nervous, and afraid of the unknown, as he has never met any apes before, let alone sought them out of curiosity. They resembled the olive baboons that lived in the Pride Lands, but they were much larger, more heavily built and lacked tails. Moreover, his anxiety was increased by the fact that the apes were slowly and cautiously approaching him. Fearing that he may be harmed, Simba crouched down, looking to his sides. They were all large gorillas, covered in shaggy brown or black coat, with powerful forearms and bumps on their heads.

"So, what are you doing around here, lion?" a female gorilla, with a bangy hairdo and bluish fur, addressed the golden cub in a somewhat defensive way, perceiving the young cub as a potential threat, and the joke about his species made the other gorillas laugh.

"Uhh..." Simba tried to speak, but was soon interrupted by Tarzan, who laughed in response to his gorilla companion: "Relax, Terk, he's just a cub." He himself then crouched over, with his spear point turned downwards, showing that he does not want to strike and that he wants to get to know him better, and asked him: "So, where are you from, little guy?"

"Well, I was just walking around the jungle, and then the leopards came, and.." Simba stopped, and then felt some more guilt from causing a scene at the nest, for which he was compelled to apologize: "I'm sorry about this."

"Hey, that wasn't your fault." Tarzan said to the cub, laying his hand on his head: "There was nothing you could do, and besides, nobody ended up getting hurt." He tried his best to relax and calm Simba, who was clearly very uptight with a kind he has never met before. And he could see that Simba's eyes were full of understanding and that he intently listened to his words.

"Other than those leopards." Simba grinned, already showing that he was more at ease. He then curiously asked: "So, what kind of ape are you?"

Tarzan chuckled, and then got onto his feet: "I guess I should introduce myself. My name's Tarzan, and I'm a human. Some animals call me 'King of the Apes' but I don't really act much like one." he then pointed at the elephant: "This is Tantor, and these gorillas are my troop. My family." Upon being called out, Tantor gave a benevolent nod and a sheepish smile with shut eyes. Tarzan then looked down on the cub once more: "What about your name?"

"I'm Simba." he responded, looking up at Tarzan, and around the apes, who clearly grew more easy-going towards him, as some of them were smiling at his presence. Soon, a small baby gorilla with a black coat approached him from behind and yanked his tail, which made Simba twitch suddenly, and immediately turn around to see what exactly it was: it was half-his size, with large, innocent eyes and a smile that beckoned for play, as it let out some playful coos and hoots. The baby jumped on his legs and beat his chest, chattering whimsically.

"Hey." Simba said, approaching the baby slowly, when it walked over, sat down and reached over to touch his face. Not before a few gentle strokes, it used its little hands to curl up Simba's lips to reveal his sharp teeth: this startled the baby and sent it back in fear, and its gaze turned sad.

However, Simba wanted to let the young ape know he's not a threat at all: "Don't be scared, I won't hurt you." He approached the baby and nuzzled him on the belly, which immediately returned its joy, but it started to yank Simba's whiskers, though not so hard. Another baby played with Simba's tail, and a third baby came over to groom Simba's fur on the back. The golden cub was shocked, but chuckled at this innocent manifest of playfulness, that didn't bother him at all, because babies still have a lot to learn, and sometimes, letting them act naturally was the best thing that could be done.

Tarzan also chuckled at this sight, finding it just as funny as Simba did. He then went on to address the cub himself: "Looks like they've taken a liking to you. Though... Are you sure you can't remember where you came from?"

"No, I can't." Simba said, as he was released by the babies, who noticed that Tarzan had spoken to him, as they instinctively imprinted on Tarzan as the true leader of the troop.

"So, that means you're lost..." Tarzan said, with a worried realization. He came to think that perhaps Simba had a family of his own that was searching for him, and was compelled to ask: "Where's your pride?"

"I don't have a pride.. I used to, but not anymore." Simba replied, lowering his head in grief, and not revealing any more information about where he came from, because he did not feel willing to talk about it.

Tarzan was alarmed by these news, looking out into the jungle horizon. He immediately took pity to the young cub now that he knew that it was alone, but he had to be sure that he would not pose a threat to the safety of his troop when he would grow up, in order to adopt him, at least briefly. He also thought it would be best that Simba lives with his own kind, because without their care, he would forsake his normal life, or perish in the wilds.

However, Simba came to think that Tarzan may know about Timon and Pumbaa, so he quickly asked: "Tarzan, sir, do you maybe know Timon and Pumbaa?"

"Who?" Tarzan asked, distracted from his overlook of the jungle, and unfamiliar with the names the cub uttered: "Who are they?"

"They're my friends." Simba said in response: "A warthog and a meerkat."

Tarzan looked out into the jungles, thinking that they might be following Simba's trail, if they truly cared for his safety...

Meanwhile, Tarzan's initial assumption was made true. The trail that Simba left as he walked and was attacked by the black leopards, was indeed followed by none other than Timon and Pumbaa themselves. One could only see Pumbaa's tail sticking out from the thick undergrowth, as he followed a distinct smell that he knew belonged to Simba. Timon was perched on his back, looking around to spy for danger and possible signs of Simba's whereabouts, if not Simba himself. They trekked for all clues to know where he went and whether or not he was alright.

"Whatcha got for me, Pumbaa?" Timon asked, growing less patient by the second, as he watched Pumbaa take too much time with each patch of scent-bearing soil.

"Uh, Simba was going this way." Pumbaa said, meticulously sniffing the still fresh trail. He moved on, for as long as Simba's scent could be smelled. From what he could gather, he stayed away from clearings for the most part. "And he went this way, and... Uh-oh." In this instant, Pumbaa caught another, different and more pungent scent, one that he knew belonged to a predator, a predator that was large, and possibly quite dangerous. Simba was clearly not alone, because this new scent was clearly more fresh than Simba's scent, and it came from a sideways direction compared to Simba.

"What's eatin' ya?" Timon asked, noticing that his friend has grown weary.

"I think it's something pretty big, with sharp teeth and claws..." Pumbaa said, growing ever more worried that something very bad happened to Simba when he went outside alone. Now he knew that he and Timon have been going too easy on him, since they so likely forgot to teach him of the dangers that lurked in the depths of the jungle.

"Pumbaa! Got a footprint over there!" Timon shouted, and dismounted Pumbaa as he rushed over to examine it: he could see the distinctive small footprints that belonged to Simba, and several larger ones that had a distinct kidney shape, with four rounded toes ahead of it: unmistakably a big cat. Soon, he was overrun with fear of the worst. He thought that Simba might have died from an attack by a leopard: "Pumbaa, full-speed ahead! I think we still might get him!"

Pumbaa galloped on, following the scent, and shouting loudly in panic, because he had the same fears as Timon: "This is all our fault, Timon! We taught him too much Hakuna Matata and not enough self-defense!"

"Shut your schnoz and stay on that scent!" Timon hollered, as they ran on. Then, Pumbaa unwittingly tripped on a grounded vine, and both the meerkat and the hog tumbled down a small landslide, and into a large hole in the ground, and when they looked around, they saw that, much to their dismay, they were surrounded by dozens of baboons. Both their eyes widened and their jaws dropped from shock and fear, but Timon quickly came to his senses, and urged Pumbaa to quietly sneak away from this den and continue searching for Simba. They sneaked around the baboons as elegantly as possible, aiming not to step on any branches, their bodies, or make unnecessary noise. However, Pumbaa's stomach had begun to rumble, and he had started to feel uneasy because of the number of baboons. it was a sort of curse of his behavior, because every time the hog found himself in a large herd, or crowd, he was claustrophobic, and this gave him stomach cramps and caused him to fart. The rumbling of his stomach intensified, but still didn't overpower the snoring of the baboons, who couldn't hear this noise at all. Pumbaa knew that he was about to fart anytime soon, so he gave his all to try and not do that until they are out of the den. Once they reached the exit, Pumbaa couldn't hold back anymore: he let out a thunderous fart that echoed throughout the jungle. They both frightfully turned around to see if that awoke the vicious monkeys, yet it seemed that they were still firmly asleep: they relaxed and let out sighs of relief, seeing that it was not enough to awaken the monkeys... or was it? Just as they kept moving, they heard the rising hoots and cries, which meant that they had been deceived by their apparent sleep...

Screaming in horror, Timon and Pumbaa galloped through the jungle, followed by the huge, stampeding troop that chased them both on the ground and from the trees, bared their teeth and screeched at the two viciously, aiming to destroy their intruders, because they were extremely territorial, and did not allow anyone who entered their territory either deliberately or accidentally to go unpunished.

"I'm sorry, Timon! It was the crowds! You know!" Pumbaa tried to justify the accident, as he panted frantically.

"I thought you took care of your tooting horn after we had breakfast!" Timon replied angrily, clinging to his back, annoyed at the warthog's rather common outbursts of gas, that didn't obligatorily need to have something to do with crowds.

"Haven't you noticed that they're gaining on us?!" Pumbaa screamed, not interested in listening to Timon's criticism because they might as well be killed by the enraged monkeys. But Timon noticed something that could be a potential life-saver for them, and buy them enough time to withstand the onslaught: a poison plant whose fruits' juice was greatly irritating to the eyes of most mammals, and made birds or reptiles physically ill.

"Not for long!" Timon replied, reaching for a fairly large bundle of fruits and finally snatching it with his hand. The meerkat quickly threw the fruits onto baboons that were very close by: the irritating poison that they emitted was not deadly to them, but it stung their eyes and caused them to trip and fall, and thus baboons that were behind them collided with them. One baboon was charging in front of Pumbaa after leaping from the trees, but he summoned up his courage and rammed it down, and others that came after it, using his large head and sharp tusks. Timon even managed to throw the plant into the mouth of one attacker. However, as all victories are short-lived, so was this one: Timon was out of ammunition, and frightened already that they may lose this battle. Pumbaa, however, saw that a small rapid was nearby, and that there was a thin log over it. He ran toward it, bent on shaking off the monkeys for good. As he ran over the log, he jumped around midway, landing on the rear end, causing it to springboard into the air, and deny the baboons access across the rapids, and sending some flowing downstream. The baboons that didn't get sent downstream ran after their comrades, to try and save them.

"Take that, bumble-butts!" Timon taunted them, and then, both chanted in unison: "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!"

"And that takes care of that." Pumbaa said, before they were pounced on by a familiar yellow form that let out a premature roar - it was Simba, glad to see that Pumbaa and Timon have managed to find him safely.

"Guys!" Simba said delightfully.

"Simba!" Timon shouted, hugging the cub, and then bonking him on the head with his fist, not very happy with him simply walking away from them unprotected, so recklessly: "You loonie! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Oh.. Sorry." Simba said, with a nervous grin, even though he could see that the two had forgiven him before the apology was made.

"Are those Timon and Pumbaa?" Tarzan, who was nearby and witnessed what was going on, addressed Simba.

"Yup." Simba responded, with a smile on his maw: "Timon, Pumbaa, meet Tarzan. He helped me."

"Oh... Well, I think we should get going now." Timon suggested, and was about to motion Pumbaa to get moving back to a new sleeping place, because the two never had a permanent place to stay, and moved around quite a bit.

"We could stay with the new guy." Pumbaa suggested to Timon, because he saw that he could protect him more efficiently from dangers.

"What? We're not gonna butt in with a stranger and just-..." Timon paused, then seeing the benefit in staying around more friends for protection, as he could see the gorillas and Tantor behind: "Hey... Why don't we stay with baldie? We could get shelter, protection, and much more!"

"We wouldn't mind it at all, if you aren't trouble." Tarzan said solemnly.

"So, we're staying with Tarzan?" Simba asked, with a joyous smile, glad that they found a home with his rescuer, and that they were going to make friends with him.

"You bet we are!" Timon said with a grin and a pat to Simba's shoulder, and then addressing Pumbaa: "Who's the genius here? Lemme hear a thank you!" to which the warthog rolled his eyes.

"Alright!" Simba said as he cantered alongside Tarzan, who led on, saying: "Come on, guys. We're gonna have to find another den by nightfall."

The four then headed back toward the old nest, where the rest of the troop was waiting for Tarzan to give word on whether or not they were going to move.


	3. Tarzan's Past

"Jane!" Tarzan called out, noticing an upright, pale figure standing ahead, with a shorter one next to it. It was Jane Porter, Tarzan's wife, originally from England. She and her father, Archimedes Q. Porter, originally arrived here on an expedition to thoroughly study and document the behavior of gorillas in the wild. In the midst of that expedition, Jane got lost, but was found by Tarzan, who brought her back to the safety of her camp. The leader of the expedition was a fickle man who instead wanted to capture and sell the primates to zoos and circuses, if not hunt some of them. Over the course of a few months, Jane fell in love with Tarzan, and decided to live with him instead of heading back to England, after they defeated the expedition leader to save the apes, and her father stayed along as well, under the guise that they were lost in the jungles.

"Tarzan, there you are." Jane said, walking over to him and placing his hands on his shoulders gently: "We were just looking for some herbs. My father seems to be a little ill."

"Ill?" Tarzan asked, concernedly addressing the old man afterwards: "Archimedes, what's wrong?"

Archimedes sneezed, then explained what was wrong: "Oh, my boy, it's just a cold. I can manage, don't worry.", he said, wiping his nose with a clean leaf instead of his hand, as he was instructed by Tarzan.

Tarzan lowered his gaze for a while, and then came up with an answer that could help the old man: "Look for some mint leaves and inhale them. It could help you sneeze out the ooze better."

"Now, what was all the hullabaloo about back there? It sounded like trouble." Jane asked Tarzan, for she heard the noise of the battle rather well, and was worried about the safety of the youngest members of the troop.

Tarzan sighed, and began to explain: "Nuru and Sheeta attacked us. Nobody got hurt, because Tantor and I arrived on time." he was glad the outcome was at it was, and that Tantor was by his side. Otherwise, the battle with two young adult leopards, who were fit and strong, would have proven to be even more difficult.

"The leopards? Nasty business.." Archimedes commented from behind, as he continued catering to his own business.

"How did they come so close to us? They could only have been lured nearby by something, or someone." Jane said, because the territory of Nuru and Sheeta spread further south than the location of the troop's last nest.

"That was me." Simba butted in, walking beneath the two, glaring up at Jane innocently, seeing her for the first time. Like lions, humans were, in the cub's eyes, drastically different between their genders. The females had a more frail physique than males, with thinner arms, and were usually shorter. But he saw Jane as a beautiful woman and he looked to her fondly.

Jane looked down in surprise, only to see the golden-pelted lion cub for the first time, and the first time she has seen any lion so close to her. A sympathetic smile crossed her lips as she crouched over to take a look at him, moved by his comforting appearance and harmless glare: "Well, aren't you simply beautiful?" she gracefully moved her hand across the fuzzy hair on his head, and over his shoulders. Feeling these affectionate touches, Simba nuzzled Jane's knee and purred gently, already imprinting on Jane as someone he could trust.

"I saved him from the leopards." Tarzan said, motioning his hand towards the warthog & meerkat duo: "We also found two of his friends here. They were originally raising him as their son."

Soon, Timon and Pumbaa came from behind Tarzan, looking up at his partner. Timon was compelled to introduce himself first, so he stepped forth before Pumbaa: "Timon, the most carefree meerkat in this part of the jungle, at your service." he bowed down.

Pumbaa looked up and smiled at the woman: "Pumbaa. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"My pleasure." Jane giggled. She immediately took a liking to these new characters, but was wondering what Tarzan would want of them, or if they wish to join the troop on the trip to the next nest, and also, they were wondering where the next nest will be: "So, where is our next nest going to be?"

Tarzan was led to think very thoroughly of this, because could not afford choosing a place that was too close to a predator's territory, and had plenty of sheltering in the form of trees. And the smell that the wind was bringing him reminded him that they were very close to the seashore, and this meant something that Tarzan held dear to his heart in more ways than one. He thought for a while until he came to a decision: "We're heading west."

"West? To the sea?" Jane asked.

"Yeah. The treehouse is close by, so we'll be safe there for the night." Tarzan replied, winking in affirmation that they had a safe shelter after all. Moreover, they were fully protected from the weather, should the wind blow, or should rain fall. Jane only nodded in agreement and went to check on how her father was progressing with the mint leaves: "Daddy, any luck with the mint?"

"Oh, yes, dear. I took some leaves for inhalation now, and I brought a few more for the road, in my satchel." Archimedes responded.

"So, we're ready to go.." Tarzan said to himself, and then addressed the troop: "Alright, everyone: we're heading west to the old treehouse! Take your children with you, keep them close and don't carry anything unnecessary!" with a spear in hand as a trekking stick, he marched ahead, and everyone else from the troop followed in a long line. Simba, with Timon and Pumbaa, joined Tarzan at the front.

 _Two hours later..._

The troop managed to cover 6 miles in the first two hours of travel, and they were still heading forward strongly, with no pauses or anything of the like. However, this did take a toll on the younger members of the troop, as well as Simba. His paws and legs were aching from the long, tedious walking, and he grew hungry and thirsty. He wanted to see if anyone was willing to lend him a hand in helping him rest along the walk.

"Can you slow down a little?" Simba beckoned, find it hard to keep walking on, because he was tiring, and because his legs turned sore from the walk. Noticing Pumbaa besides him, he looked to him for possible help: "Pumbaa, can you carry me for a while?"

"Sorry, kid, I'm already out of seats." Pumbaa said, as he was already carrying a few baby gorillas, and Timon, on his back. Simba frowned in exasperation, and stood still, looking around hopelessly to find a solution for his fatigue and leg pain, and it seemed like he was doomed to walk a hurtful lot more. Until, he heard thudding footsteps from behind, followed by a familiar voice: "One free ride, coming right up!"

"Whooooooa!" Simba yelled, as he was picked up by Tantor's long, dexterous trunk and placed comfortably on his shoulders, where he could even lie down for a while. He was awe-inspired to see the world with an elephant's eyes for the first time in his life. In fact, Simba had always admired elephants, not only for their large size, but also for their loving and kind nature, which made them highly respected back in the Pride Lands.

"I bet you like the view, Simba." Terk said, as she was lying on Tantor's back, as she did most of the time: she was one of the lazier members of the troop and also one of the more tomboyish and somewhat aggressive females, as she stubbornly protected what she claimed as her own originally. But since Simba didn't take up her space, she wasn't bothered by his presence.

"Thanks, Tantor!" Simba said, and laid himself to rest for a while, looking down at the rest of the troop that was ahead, as they maintained the fine linear order set up by Tarzan in the first place. Most of the single females or male gorillas moved in the front, while the mothers and young gorillas stuck behind for protection.

 _One hour/three miles later..._

In another hour, they had arrived at a bridge that separated the mainland from a small, high island rising from the sea floor, not too far from the shore. Tarzan stopped here and addresses the troop: "Everyone! We will each cross the bridge, one at a time, do you understand? Only mothers can carry their babies with them, but you can't cross it two at a time. The bridge is flimsy, old and fragile. We shouldn't risk breaking it apart on any account!"

The King of the Apes then moved to address the largest and most powerful members of his group, Tantor, and a certain male gorilla named Taug, the largest and most heavily built of the troop and therefore the only one he could rely on for protection: "Taug, you take the first watch. When you feel tired, take a shift with Tantor. The same goes for you, too."

"Alright." said Taug, who was ready to obey. Tantor followed his reaction with a nod of understanding directed at Tarzan.

"I'm going over last, because I want to see everyone get across safely. Who's gonna go first?" Tarzan asked, looking around the group to see if anyone would volunteer to take the first crossing. After a few seconds of silent waiting, he heard an answer from a rather unexpected darer: none other than the young cub: "I'll go."

Tarzan was quiet for a few seconds, but eventually nodded in approval, afterwards motioning him to start crossing. The cub then climbed down Tantor's face, and slid down his unfolding trunk, and slowly approached the beginning of the bridge, with a slight tinge of anxiety within his mind.

"Don't look down when you go over. Only ahead. You don't have to be afraid of falling that way." Tarzan warned him, so that he is careful enough, but without fear. When Simba started walking over, he could feel a slight swivel in its structure, and that made him stop for a second. Against the odds, the cub summoned up his courage and moved on, determined to cross it with the empowerment he received from Tarzan. While he was walking, he discovered that the closer to the center he was, the less swiveling there would be, and the more balanced his crossing would be. Soon, he would reach the bridge's end, and look down at the hissing ocean below him. Seeing what he had crossed over, Simba let out a sigh of great relief, glad that everything turned out just fine. He shouted across, to Tarzan: "I'm through!"

Gradually, everyone made the crossing successfully, and as instructed, one at a time, because the bridge was growing old and flimsy, and could break at any point. In a matter of minutes, they finally settled inside the indeed large treehouse, where Tarzan was, in fact, meant to be raised. It was built by Tarzan's true parents, who were the survivors of a shipwreck that happened when an English galleon set sail for Africa's western coast. However, their lives were abruptly ended by the attack of a large, formidable female leopard that the gorillas referred to as Sabor. However, a baby Tarzan survived the onslaught, and was heard by Kala, one of the troop that he now leads. She survived an attack by Sabor and managed to rescue the baby from her claws. When she took him to the troop, they showed great disapproval of his presence, especially the leader and Kala's mate, Kerchak.

Night had already fallen by the time everyone settled into the different parts of the large house, which was engulfed by the jungle undergrowth. As Simba walked in, he was already taken in by its structure, and surprised that such things even existed, so finely structured and measured they seemed, like they were out of this world: "So, what is this place?"

"It's where auntie Kala found Tarzan when he was little." Terk replied, to teach Simba about the place and give him some insight into Tarzan's past life: "Still can't believe Sabor came all the way here for a pair of humans..."

"Who came?" Simba asked, confused at hearing the name.

"Sabor." Kala joined the conversation, as someone who witnessed everything come to pass: "She was a female leopard that was our enemy for a long time, and she killed Tarzan's family. I could hear his cries coming from here, and I ran away from the rest of my troop. I found him in his cradle, all alone. We were quick to imprint on one another, but Sabor attacked us again. I managed to shake her off, and I took him to the rest of the troop. "

"Why did you save him?" Simba asked.

"Because I knew that there was a lot more to him than his appearance suggested, and that he had a greater deal to offer us than anyone else knew, including Kerchak." Kala sighed, with a bit of a smile.

"Who was Kerchak?" Simba asked.

"Kerchak was our leader before Tarzan came of age... my mate. He was stubborn and fierce, but still.." Kala sighed a pause, in remembrance of his life: "Still a great leader who cared for our troop's well-being and gave his all to defend it from danger... eventually, he gave his life in a terrible attack we suffered from a group of humans who wanted to trap and kill us. I'm more grateful than anything that I found Tarzan here, because if it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here, where we are now. And I'm very glad Jane and her father are with us as well." Kala then looked out of one of the windows. She had managed to cope with many losses over the course of her life, among them the death of her own mate, and even earlier, the death of her actual child at Sabor's claws. Yet Kala did not speak of the latter, because it was still much too painful to share, so she kept it to herself. However, something about his innocent curiosity reminded her of the time Tarzan was a child, and how inquisitive he used to be, and not always for his own good. And like Tarzan then, he was an outcast among those who were not his own kind.

"And the leopard?" Simba asked: "What happened to it?"

Tarzan then approached the conversation himself: "Sabor died of old age a long time ago, but not without leaving behind some legacy. She had a cub that grew up to become just as fierce as her. She attacked our troop last year, and Kerchak was overpowered. I jumped in to distract her and try to fight back at her, with nothing but my spear in hand. Though, she was clever enough to break off the tip and send it falling down a ledge. The only hope I had of saving my skin was to go after it with no weapons in my hand. She cornered me in some tree roots, but before she could reach me, I got her paw stuck in there, before making one last jump to get the tip."

"And what happened then?" Simba asked again, anticipating the climax.

"Then she fell on the tip, and our most feared enemy had been defeated that day." Tarzan ended, and then moved over to say something that concerned all of the troop, because it was time to sleep by far: "Okay, everyone, get some sleep! You'll be safe here for the night..." he moved to the window looking out into the jungles to the west: "I hope."

Simba, though, had found Tarzan's old cradle, which was already in an advanced stage of decay, but still maintained a solid form to sleep on. He tucked himself inside and lay to sleep, but not before looking out into the nightly sky, and seeing the moon shine across the sea, and hundreds of stars glistening, remembering his father's words..

 ** _"Whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you... and so will I."_**

Feeling more alone than ever, Simba lay down, sighed and tried to do his best to sleep...


	4. Downfall - Coming To Terms

Meanwhile, far to the south, in the usually vivid savannas and river deltas of the Pride Lands, a change was brewing. A change that was not for the better in any way. The sun-lit and absorbent days turned sour and weary, and the nights became uneasy. Some herds began to stray further and further from the Pride Lands, because they could feel a discord in the Circle of Life, they could feel that something ill had beset the kingdom that once functioned as the king of Pride Rock would order. However, the new king was strongly defying that order in favoring only a great power as a means to rule, a power that was enforced and shoehorned to those who did not comply out of wise reasons. The new king was the very lion who had witnessed the death of his brother, king Mufasa, and assumed the throne thereafter.

Foul creatures, hyenas were, and have always been. Ever defiant of the Circle of Life and the values that it bestowed upon nature and those who lived in it. Aiming to be their own masters at all costs, they would not bend to anyone, not even for their own better. The only thing that interested them were their selves, only them, their thoughts and their needs, and if they would not acquire that, they would bigotedly attack all who thought differently, even resorting to calling their opponents 'intolerant'. And as such, they would endlessly squander the resources that were laid upon the earth by the Circle. Since they knew no boundaries, they resort to ill pride and gluttony, thinking that they are the ones that suffer from tyranny, while the only ones who perpetrate it, who take away from someone what rightfully belongs to him, and looking upon those who reprimanded them with scorn, envy and mockery.

Ever since Taka, more widely known as Scar for the trademark scar over his left eye, brother of Mufasa, and thus uncle to Simba, seized the throne, he had behaved very liberally toward the hyenas. He gave them handouts and special rights wherever he managed. For example, when a kill would be made, the first to eat would usually be the king, followed by the other lions. But at these times, most kills were mostly, if not entirely, eaten by the hyenas themselves, leaving the lionesses and cubs with little to eat within the inner reaches of the Pride Lands. Fragile times have come, and it seemed as though nothing could stop it.

During Scar's rule, the duty to maintain any sort of balance in the pride fell upon the once proud queen, Sarabi. Of all the times, these were the most heart-wrenching for her. On top of losing her beloved mate and son in a violent accident, she was tortured grievously by the pain and devastation that were wrought by the hyenas, and the innocent who suffered from the stubbornness and pride of the one who sought out the very animal who betrayed their king long ago, and yet he would call his cause just. Yet he would say that larger numbers of 'hunters' would make the meals in the Pride Lands would be tenfold more bountiful, but it turned out that it is only so after the hyenas eat their fill, and they would kill aside of hunting parties, wherever they pleased, whenever they pleased. Cubs could no longer play in the grasses without being cautious of the danger that they saw in the dog-like animals that called themselves friends to lions, yet their ranks were filled with the same hatred and intolerance that they wrought upon them when they were subdued by rightful kings of the Pride Lands. Yet Sarabi knew that a mutiny would be lethal for every lion who would call himself a Pridelander. She knew that only the bearing of a lady would resolve conflicts most easily, and that only time will tell whether this pride had a future. Even though things seemed darker and more desperate than ever, there was something that told Sarabi a lesson: not all that is good lasts forever... yet neither does any evil outlast it.

* * *

 _Three months later..._

Tarzan's troop seemed to have found a permanent home in the treehouse for now. The space around it was large enough to fit everyone, and there was a lot of comfortable space for sleeping, where they were mostly safe of predators, thanks to Tantor's watchful eyes. However, on numerous occasions Tarzan has thought about the future of one particular newcomer. Not Timon, not Pumbaa, but Simba. Neither the company of a grub-eating duo of a meerkat and a warthog nor a gorilla troop was the type of group where he would live normally, and Tarzan knew this. Many times, he has spoken to Kala, his stepmother, about finding Simba a fine home for life, with others of his kind, with lions. He was content, because he, even though surrounded by gorillas, lived with his own kind: Jane and her father were very much enough company, and that would especially be true for their future child as the newest member. Yet he's lived most of his life alone, and a large part of it was his childhood. Simba, as a cub, as in the same situation as Tarzan as a child, and the king of the apes could not allow the youngling to suffer the same fate as he did. He wanted to give him what he never had. For the past three months, Tarzan has been scowering the jungle for a suitable lioness to raise Simba as her own son. He searched across the vast expanse of the jungle, and had little to no luck. Either he failed to find a lioness, or he found rogue lions that were very hostile. But in the last week, Tarzan has managed to track down the Hotan pride, led by a powerful and wise lion named Numa, who gladly addressed Tarzan on the matter, since they share a positive past. Numa has inquired his pride and concluded that there is a single lioness who would wish to raise Simba as her own, and thus, he agreed to let Simba in.

This made Tarzan awake early, in the dawn. He pondered this matter over and over, and decided that he must tell Timon and Pumbaa that Simba's days of grub-slipping and ape-immitation are over, and that he must change for the better as long as time is available. He was on the balcony of the house, and was overlooking the jungle on the other side of the bridge. His awakening was not unheard, because it also awoke one of the more attentive troop members: none other than Terk. She turned her head to Tarzan, as he looked on, in thought. She walked onto the balcony and looked where Tarzan was looking, seeing a beautiful landscape in green.

"What's keeping you awake, Tarzan?" Terk asked, looking at him with concern and curiosity: "Bedbugs? Bad necessities?"

"Terk, I need a favor." Tarzan said: "Could you call Timon and Pumbaa down to the canopy?" That being said, Tarzan made his own way down to a yellow umbrella, that was torn up from the very time that Sabor attacked Kala when she discovered Tarzan as a baby. Also from that time, some boards on the floor were cracked, and the entire structure, much like the rest of the house, was consumed by the jungle undergrowth. All that Tarzan had to do was wait for the two to arrive.

"Hey, grubgrabs." Terk said, as she shook the two awake, and the two looked upon her smacking their lips and blinking drowsily, moaning as they came to their senses. She continued: "Tarzan wants to talk to you two. Come with me." The two would look upon each other for a second before slowly getting up and descending down the tree, to the aforementioned canopy. Terk stood behind, as Tarzan stood ahead, and was joined by the meerkat and warthog.

"Terky here said you wanted to have a word with us." Timon said, as he stood to Tarzan's left.

"So, what'll it be, your... uh... hairlessness?" Pumbaa asked sheepishly, which made Timon roll his eyes in annoyance and nudge him with his elbow. Pumbaa then jerked and stood still and stiff, taking a 'guard' for speech.

Tarzan only chuckled at the remark, finding it rather humorous and un-insulting: "It's alright, you two. Yeah, I wanted to see you to talk to you about something really important." As Timon and Pumbaa looked on with curiosity and with lots of anticipation, Tarzan sighed and thus started explaining: "What I want to talk to you about is your approval for taking Simba to a permanent, safe home."

Timon, who was scratching his back when Tarzan said this, jerked his head rather suddenly upon hearing these words being uttered by Tarzan. To him, all things seemed fine for Simba with the two of them, the gorillas included: "Wait... Have I got a tick in my ear, or did you say something about finding Simba a... permanent home? He's got one, doesn't he?" Pumbaa was also surprised to hear this from the King of the apes.

Tarzan then countered calmly: "But it's not a home that can offer him everything he needs."

"Why not?" Pumbaa asked, worriedly and out of empathy for the cub: "He's happy here with us, ain't he? He's got food, friends, and that's all he needs."

"I don't think so, Pumbaa." Tarzan said: "I know it sounds awful, and I've been mulling it over for days, but it's what needs to be done for his own safety. A gorilla troop isn't the place for him."

"Aw, Hakuna Matata, baldie. We took care of his safety so far, didn't we, Pumbaa?" Timon started to counter, patting Pumbaa on the shoulder. The warthog simply nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, like you did when the two leopards attacked him..." Terk butted in sarcastically, rolling her eyes at how frivolous the two were when it comes to looking after someone, and indeed, Simba slipped away from them, without them even noticing.

"Can't a guy make one little mistake?" Timon asked with a bit of a raised voice, while Pumbaa was a little swayed by this, because it was true.

"Not in the wilderness." Tarzan said, trying to reason with an already stubborn Timon: "Sooner or later, Simba will face those two again, and who's going to protect him from them? You two? Nuru and Sheeta, or any other predator in the jungle, won't wait for Simba to grow up and outlast almost everyone. They'll close in to hunt Simba down and kill him while he's still a cub! Don't you understand? As long as he remains with you, he's in danger, because other predators will see him as a threat to their supremacy." He could already notice that Timon and Pumbaa started growing ever more upset by these words, as they were looking to the side, and Timon was scratching his own arm.

"Well.. wh.. what are we gonna do?" Pumbaa asked, understanding the jeopardy of the situation from Tarzan's words very well. Even though there were things Pumbaa could protect Simba from, he was not omnipotent by any means, and two large leopards were too much.

"We'll do what's best for him." Tarzan said: "And what we're going to do is find him a home with a lion pride who will raise him as what he is."

"Are you out of your mind, a lion pride?!" Timon jumped defensively, cringing at the thought that Simba would be raised by animals that predate on creatures like them: "They'll ruin him! They'll make a lion out of him! And lions eat guys like us! Would you want Simba to thank us by picking us out of his teeth when he grows up?"

"What a load of red river hogwash!" an angered Terk said, laughing at Timon's display of misunderstanding: "What's his kind got to do with where Simba stands?! Just because he eats some buffalo out there doesn't mean he's gonna eat you! He ain't stupid not to know whom he's loyal to and nobody has to tell him whom to like and whom not to like. Sheesh..."

"Terk's right." Tarzan added: "Besides, Numa's a friend of our troop and doesn't hunt our troop or any other gorillas, so there's nothing to worry about! The lions can protect him, he can eat fine with them, and he can meet a mate more easily. There is nothing wrong about that. Think about what's best for Simba and not for yourselves." As he looked to an already bright sky, and then turned his head down to see that Pumbaa was crying a little, and that Timon was wiping his own tears. Terk, shaking her head in misunderstanding, went back up into the treehouse, while Tarzan crouched over to the two and laid each of his hands on their shoulders: "Hey...  
don't worry about it. The pride's not far, and I'll tell Simba to come over here whenever he wants to. This isn't farewell, you sillies!"

"Really?" Pumbaa asked sheepisly, with a bit of a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'll pick him up if I have to! It's not a problem." Tarzan concluded, scratching both their heads and getting up: "Now, wipe off those tears. You don't want anybody to notice them. Now, I'll take Simba to the pride, and show him the return path." he then left to examine Tantor and Taug on the nightwatch, across the bridge, to see if they came across any threats or unforeseen events.

And so, Timon and Pumbaa sat and thought about what Tarzan told them. Simba had a future with the lions, but he could still drop by his friends, and have some fun with them, whenever he wanted to. Come to think of it, it didn't sound so bad after all, because of all the things Tarzan and Terk pointed out, there was none that didn't make sense. They still felt a little saddened to not be able to see the cub every day, but if anything, they would see him often and when he wanted to come.

"You wanna eat something?" Pumbaa asked.

"Yeah, I'm starving." Timon said, as he jumped on Pumbaa's back and came down from the canopy and down onto the ground to find some fine grubs or roots to eat.


	5. Rocking The House - Travelling Light

That morning, Jane was doing some cleaning inside the house itself, thinking the place was too dirty, and feeling that the undergrowth that consumed made it less comfortable for living in, drawing insects and other pests closer and closer.  
She started by discovering a broom in the house itself, and cleaning the layers of dirt that covered the floor. As Terk once again entered the house, she could hear the sounds that Jane was making, and she was pleased and motivated to bob her head to the right, hearing the syncopated rhythm of Jane's sweeps.

"Terk, could you help me clean up this foliage. This house is a mess..." Jane said, not noticing that Terk was getting carried away by the beat she was creating. Soon, the small gorilla gave her response, dancing out to call over some of her friends and kin to help around with uprooting the undergrowth that consumed the house and its parts.

"Hey you, guys! Come here!" Terk called out: "It's time to get some cleaning done 'round this place!" Not before long, several gorillas came with Terk back home, and started tearing out the undergrowth in rhythm with Jane's sweeping, and during this, Terk looked to her friends, and asked: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" And so, she started singing the following 'words': "Shoo-be-doo, da-ba-da, doo-be-doo, da-be-da-da-doo-da, shoo-be-doo, da-ba-da, do-be-doo, da-be-da-da-doo-da, shoo-be-doo, da-ba-da, doo-be-doo, da-be-da-da-doo-da, doo-bad-shi-doo!" On and on, she repeated this as musically and as vigorously, joined by the other troop members in doing so, as they remembered this melody from past days. They first sang this melody when they broke into the Porters' camp, while they were out searching for the gorillas themselves. They created the music by using, or destroying, human devices. At first surprised by this outburst,  
Jane relaxedly synchronized herself with the rhythm, and eventually imitated the percussive movements and bantering that the gorillas were showing. Especially after accustoming herself to a more difficult life than in England, she felt that a little bit of vent was needed for her to live joyously, and this playful song helped her do much better. She was also surprised at the fact that the gorillas understood how to create music, and that they actually had a lot of sense for it.

In a matter of a half-hour, the whole house was cleared of dirt and undergrowth. This was soon noticed by Simba, who spent the morning upstairs, near the balcony of the house. Over the course of the past months, he has changed quite a bit: his head started to sprout a red tuft of hair, which would eventually grow to form his mane. He had also grown in size, and has become sturdier, which went to show that he was gradually starting to shed his cubbish traits and trading them for those of a maturing lion. He was glad that the dense foliage around was finally removed, as it made the house look more beautiful than it was, in a sense. It looked more exotic and foreign, and he spent a few seconds gazing upon the work done by Jane and the gorilla. Until, Tarzan's voice called out from outside: "Simba!" Curiously, the young cub jumped out the nearest open window, and trotted out to see where Tarzan was.

"Come over here." Tarzan said, once again. He was leaning against a large branch in a lying pose, and eating a mango. He tried his utmost to put together all he had to say and do to try and persuade Simba into moving to the Hotan pride and staying with them permanently: not to get rid of Simba, but to help him live a more prosperous life. He was done with eating just in time, as Simba came over to him and sat down with curious eyes fixed upon him: "Something wrong?"

"Oh, no, no." Tarzan replied assuringly, aiming to get Simba into more of a talking mood: "Well, have you grown or what? How's that mane doing?" he asked, looking at the growing tuft of hair on his head.

"Oh, this?" Simba said, bowing his head down to show his growing mane in a better way for Tarzan to see. He then eyed Tarzan with a cubbish smirk and tried to pull of a roar, though, as usual, it would end up becoming a high-pitched cry that sounded more like a yelp than a snarl or a roar, which made Tarzan giggle: "Heh, you're getting better, but you have to do it like this." He then began to imitate the walking and sound of a large male lion quite accurately, both in gesture and in growling.

"Help! Bald lion!" Simba shouted, and fled playfully, showing that he, like Tarzan, was willing for banter. Soon, the king of the apes gave chase, and impersonating a lion's roar, surprisingly swiftly caught up with Simba, grabbing him in his arms and tickling him across the ribs and belly with his long, spindly fingers. Simba tried to pry himself out of the strong grip, laughing loudly.

"Surrender to the king!" Tarzan growled playfully.

"Never!" Simba screamed through laughter, still trying to struggle out. Tarzan then rolled onto his belly, lifting the cub: he could feel that he's gained quite a bit of weight due to growing older, which, in his mind, was good. Still, he remarked it jokingly: "Whoa, you've gotten fat!" He then let the cub go as he rose back to his feet.

"Are you trying to say I'm eating too many grubs a day?" Simba asked, with a whimsical grin on his face.

"Maybe." Tarzan grinned, but then returned to pondering the real reason why he called Simba out to talk. He saw that Simba didn't recognize a single sign that would tell him that Tarzan was hiding something, which the ape man aimed to use to his own advantage. He then said: "The reason I called you out now is because I have a really great surprise for you, and I'd like you to check it out."

"Oh, what is it?" Simba asked curiously, looking up at Tarzan with a tinge of naughty politeness.

"I said it's a surprise." Tarzan winked, scratching Simba's head: "So, are you ready to go?"

"I guess." Simba replied, and followed Tarzan. As the two made their way down the tree, they passed next to Kala, who looked happily at them and asked: "Where are you two off to?"

"Tarzan and I are going on an adventure!" Simba replied, prancing behind Tarzan.

"Well, good luck." Kala said, deducing immediately that Tarzan has finally come to terms with Timon and Pumbaa about Simba's new home. She watched on as they were making their way to the bridge. On the way, they also encountered Timon and Pumbaa eating.

"Bye, guys! See ya later!" Simba said.

"Bye, Simba!" Timon waved, with a smile to hide his discomfort.

"Stay safe.." Pumbaa muttered for himself, already missing the cub, as he watched him slip away. He wondered if he'll even remember his old friends once he started living with the lions, but something told him that he would, and that he is not someone who takes care and love for granted.

Tarzan led Simba to the northeast, moving across the jungle floor, for around five minutes. Then, they reached a vast swamp that they could not cross on foot easily. Therefore, Tarzan prepared a new lesson for the young cub: to swing on the vines that hung on the tree branches, and cover more ground. The two climbed the first tree and looked ahead when they reached its top: to Tarzan, the vines seemed to connect nicely enough to allow a safe passage from one tree to another. The king of the apes then grabbed hold of a fairly large vine, and addressed Simba: "Okay, listen to me. I want you to bite this vine hard, and as you hold it, run forward and throw yourself off this branch. When you get to that other tree, just let yourself go, and don't be afraid."

"Uh... O-okay.." Simba said anxiously. All he thought, as he looked across the gap between the two trees, was that it was a very bad idea, and that he would very easily end up getting hurt doing this, if not worse. He then looked at the man: "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"No problem! Just do what I told you and you'll be fine." Tarzan said, reassuring him. Simba then pinched the vine in his jaws tightly, with Tarzan determining what length of vine he should be using for this. Then, the cub ran ahead, holding on, and leaped as if suicidally. As he swung, he was screaming, but the sound itself was muffled by the vine that was in his jaws. As he reached the other tree, he regained some focus, and released the vine, falling clumsily onto the main branch, and then slipping off: thankfully, the cub hooked onto the branch and climbed it, breathing heavily from this sudden rush of fear and adrenalin. He looked to the other tree with eyes wide open, as Tarzan swung effortlessly, elegantly, over to his side, laughing at him: "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it after you get some practice."

In such a manner, they managed to cross 20 minutes of terrain, until the swamps stopped. During this time, Simba had managed to overcome his fear of falling and became an apprentice at swinging on vines, and has managed to get a grasp of the actions involved in the act. He listened carefully to every word that Tarzan said to him, and successfully incorporated it into his actions. When they reached the end of the bogs, they saw vast expanses of intertwining trees, with long branches that gave Tarzan and excellent idea about how to work around them efficiently.

"Simba, jump on me and hold on tight! We've got a big ride ahead of us." Tarzan said.

"A ride? Alright!" Simba said, jumping onto Tarzan's chest, and wrapping his forelimbs around his shoulders. Tarzan took a deep breath, and then ran toward the first in a large serpentine strand of branches. He then started sliding down the treeline at a high speed, at times leaping from branch to branch, or from tree to tree, which he learned from his long years in the jungles. He was the slowest member of the troop, but as he grew, so did his intelligence, and he looked to smaller monkeys and learned their ways of climbing trees and workin their way around large obstacles. Simba spent the entire ride screaming in joy, as the speed made his excitement skyrocket: he has never met someone who is so athletic, agile and elegant, and this new manner of travel was very thrilling for the earth-bound cub. In a few minutes, they had reached the end of the treeline. Simba dropped off of Tarzan, dizzy and tired, catching his breath, and looking at Tarzan with wide eyes: "That... was the most incredible thing ever!"


	6. The Hotan Pride

"Come on, Simba! Keep up. We're almost there.." Tarzan said, walking near a large rock ridge. Tarzan looked about, and spied for any sign of nearby lions. However, all would seem clear, and only a herd of forest elephants were near the edge of the Maji lake, drinking water and trumpeting in the distance, as well as taking time to play. The lake, which was one of the largest sources of water in these parts of the rainforest, was crystal-clear.

"Where are they?" Tarzan murmured to himself.

Looking over, Simba could see a fairly large rock cave with walls engulfed in moss, and with vines hanging about the entrance. He thought that the surprise lay there, and he tried to take advantage of Tarzan's lack of attention to explore it. But as soon as he started slipping away, he could hear an unfamiliar voice: a male voice, raspy and fairly deep, addressing none other than Tarzan: "You are early, ape king." Both Tarzan and Simba turned their heads to see a fairly large male lion with cream fur, a chestnut mane and brown eyes emerge from the trees. He bore two small scars on the left side of his muzzle, but the rest of his body was still well-protected and strong. This was Numa, the leader of the Hotan pride, whom Tarzan addressed for the adoption of Simba.

"Ah, Numa. There you are." Tarzan said, walking toward the big cat. Simba followed him closely, curious to see a lion in all these months of solitude. Alongside Numa was a young lioness who was nearing adolescence, and was a little shorter than Simba. She had coppery fur and a slim, lithe figure that showed that she has started growing from a small, stocky cub, into a sleek lioness that would become one of the most nimble hunters of this land. Her elongate, but finely rounded face was decorated by two gray, slanted eyes with thin, feminine eyebrows that tapered finely at their ends. In a blink of an eye, Simba's gaze honed and fixed itself on her. He didn't understand why, but he had never felt this kind of pull towards someone in a long while, and had no idea what drew his attention toward this girl. To him, she seemed very... pleasant. Outwardly, he found her grace very appealing. " _She is beautiful..._ " the golden cub thought to himself, as each step he took towards her vicinity made him ever more passionate, because nothing felt better right now than to look at this strange new lady.

"So, I see you've come to our borders to introduce us to the boy." Numa said, smiling, as the young female stood behind him calmly and quietly, only idly listening to the conversation, unaware that Simba was eyeing her all the time.

"Oh, that would be Simba." Tarzan said, stepping aside so that Numa could see him. The golden cub's eyes then noticed that the great lion was looking upon him, and soon, he shook his head from his daze and met the elder's eyes.

"Welcome to the Hotan pride, Simba." Numa said, smiling solemnly at the youngster. He could see in his eyes that he was a little confused. He didn't know that Tarzan did not reveal to him the true cause of his coming, and he did not care of that either. He only wanted to get to know him a little, to begin with, because he would find out the truth one way or another.

"Hello.. sir." Simba replied confusedly, admiring the lion's might, which slightly made him reminisce of his father when he ruled Pride Rock.

"So, I trust that you are ready to see your new home?" the lion inquired, with a more serious expression.

"New ho-?" Simba was startled by these words, because he had no idea that it would come to this, and that he was being adopted by lions. He was both surprised and frightened, because he would be surrounded by strangers. He then looked up to his human companion in befuddlement: "Tarzan, what's he talking about?"

"Simba..." Tarzan started explaining, crouching over to him, laying his hand onto his shoulders: "This is the surprise. I want you to have what I couldn't: a life with your own kind, who will know how to raise you and fulfill all of your real needs."

Simba was confused about this: Tarzan was taking him away from all the things that he held dear, from what Simba was hearing. Defensively, he asked: "But, but.. What about you guys? What about Timon and Pumbaa? I'll never see them again,  
will I?"

"Hey, don't worry!" Tarzan said to him: "I'll visit you tomorrow, and I'll show you how to get to our house quickly. If you ever need help with something, or if you want to come, you'll know how. You're welcome at any time. I know it sounds scary, but this is what you deserve. You belong here, with your own kind, with lions. I talked to Timon and Pumbaa this morning, and they're okay with this. We have to put our own emotions aside and do what's best for you."

Simba looked upon him silently, which showed that he understood Tarzan's words, and that made him relax, but also think of the possibilites of this new life: he missed his own pride dearly, and he started to gradually forget the ways of lions, which was something that he didn't feel was right for him, and being with other lions was something he could use a lot. He was also very curious of meeting new faces every now and then, and it would remind him of his old life, though it would never be the same as in the Pride Lands. And knowing that he will visit Tarzan whenever he wanted, he was no longer afraid: he was happy, and very grateful that Tarzan had thought of this. He looked at him with slight tears in his eyes, but these were tears of joy, because Simba knew deep inside that he needed to live with lions. He then jumped onto Tarzan and embraced him tightly, wrapping his front paws around his neck: "Thank you so much, Tarzan!"

Tarzan returned this hug just as affectionately, and when they stopped, he looked into Simba's eyes, holding his head gently: "Now, be a good lion for me. I'll see you tomorrow morning, alright?"

"Alright... Bye, Tarzan." Simba then lay his front paw on Tarzan's hand to bid him goodbye, which is something that he saw from the ape king when he addressed Jane affectionately during Simba's time in the treehouse.

"Goodbye." Tarzan said, before rising to his feet, and moving away. At first, he slowly walked away, but then he ran, and leaped onto the closest tree to make his voyage back to the house. However, he couldn't simply turn away from the young cub he had grown very fond of. He looked to where Simba was again, and then let out his trademark battle cry, to say goodbye once more. Simba replied to this with a premature snarl, while Numa roared loudly to say his own greeting. Then, he looked down on Simba, and addressed him: "How old are you, boy?"

"Uh, 10 months." Simba replied.

"I see that your mane's started to grow quite nicely." the lion moved over to him, examining him with a smile on his maw: "I think you and I will get along nicely. Now, it is time for you to meet someone very important. Come along, you two." The female cub followed Numa, and Simba carried on as well. Simba's eyes met hers for the first time, and the young cub felt a tingle in his belly from her look. Nevertheless, he pulled himself together and spoke to her first: "So, what's your name?"

"Oh, sorry. Nyota." she giggled pleasantly, with a tone of voice that told Simba that she was maturing, as it sounded more mature and feminine than Nala's voice, the last time he heard it. He proceeded to ask again: "So, where's your family at?"

Upon hearing this, the young girl motioned to Numa with her head, and looking at this gesture, Simba didn't understand what she was trying to say, and looked back at her with a befuddled expression. She then whispered: "That's my father."

Simba then gave off a glance of understanding, knowing immediately that she is a princess here, much like Simba's noble descent. After two minutes, they reached the cave that Simba noticed when he came to the lake with Tarzan. He could notice several lionesses resting near its entrance, on nearby rocks or up on the trees. These lions were different from Pridelanders, as they were generally slightly smaller and better suited to life in the woods, with their darker coat and slightly longer limbs, that were better suited to climbing trees if it were a necessity.

"Lady Huduma! Come here." Numa called out, and to that, a young lioness with a tawny pelt, and dark-shaded gray eyes, responded, leaping off a tree to see what the pride leader would ask of her.

"Yes, my lord?" she responded.

"This is the cub that will be passed onto you." the king said, and then addressed the cub, who was already looking at them curiously and clearly listening intently: "Uh, Simba, my dear fellow, this is your adoptive mother, Huduma."

"Oh?" Simba said, as he ran over to see what was going on: he looked at Huduma with an inquisitive glare, and he was surprised that an adoptive mom would be so young. Glaring at her, he was certain that his own mother was older than this lioness. He smiled at her and said: "Hi, uh... stepmom."

Huduma only laughed at this remark, and replied: "So, where are you from?"

"Uh..." Simba muttered, because he was hesitant to speak anything about his past, because he found it to be troublesome to speak about. On top of that, it invoked ill memories, that haunted him since his exile. However, he was cut short by the roaring of the hunting party: they clearly returned to the pride with a fresh kill, and it was time to eat.

"Finally. Food..." Numa said to himself, licking his chops at the same time.

Hearing these words, Simba was shocked in a good way: his eyes widened and his mouth began to salivate... It has been ages since he last ate meat, and he felt a greedy urge to take the kill for himself, even though he couldn't. He trotted over with delight. When he almost reached the kill, his tail was suddenly pinned to the ground by Huduma. Simba tried to struggle out of that: "Hey! What's that for?"

"Don't you know that the royal family eats first?" Huduma asked him.

"Of course I-...Oh. Sorry." Simba grinned nervously, quickly remembering that he was not the prince of this pride, and that he would have to wait for his turn at the carcass.

When his turn came, he ate like he never ate before, ravenously and nimbly, managing to eat enough very quickly. But, much to him leaving an ill impression, he ate a lot, and didn't leave very much room for everyone else who was around his age. After this satisfying meal, he lay alone to rest himself.

In the evening, when Simba was lying near the entrance to the den, ready to sleep, he could feel his ear being yanked by Huduma.

"Ow!" Simba yelped, grabbing his ear in a reflex.

"What's up with you? You ate like you haven't eaten meat in your life." she said, with a scolding tone, because Simba indeed ate a little too greedily, too carried away by his hunger, to the slight dismay of other cubs in the pride.

"Well, I... you're right. I haven't." Simba said, lowering his head in shame, realizing that his conduct was not the best in this situation.

"What?" Huduma asked, caught off guard by this response, not taking Simba's words seriously, and feeling that he was trying to justify his misbehavior by lying.

"Really, I didn't eat meat for four months." Simba assured her.

"Then what did you eat? Mangoes?" Huduma asked, already in a more whimsical mood, and still not buying into Simba's story.

"No, I ate grubs for four months. Really, I did." Simba said.

Huduma then grew a disgusted expression on her face at hearing these words. She couldn't even imagine what taste they would be, because they were much too repulsive visually: "So... what do they taste like?"

"Well, I thought it was gross." Simba then said: "And when I actually tried one, I didn't think it was bad at all. It was... slimy, yet satisfying."

Huduma only laughed at this, and then gave Simba a noogie: "You're a weird little kiddo, you know that?"

"Hey!" Simba said.

"Quiet! Don't wake anybody up..." Huduma said once more. The tawny lioness looked toward the den, and saw that everyone was already asleep, and that it was time for her to go to sleep as well. She then said: "Let's go sleep, then." She quietly snuck into the den, and chose a secluded spot where she usually slept. She first let Simba climb on first, and then climbed on herself. As she lay, waiting to fall asleep, she could feel Simba snuggling next to her, rubbing his head against her. To this, she smiled, because she was moved by his affectionate behavior, and thought that, despite his impolite eating manners, he could change and learn. She then pulled him closer to her face, holding him in a tight embrace, as they fell softly asleep, with the moonlight glistening across the Maji lake...


	7. Unrequited

After a little more than two months among the Hotan lions, Simba quickly grasped the rules that the pride abode by, and has come to know most of the members, including all of the cubs, of which there were five in total, six including Simba.

The oldest of these kids was Wakaidi, a reddish boy with an already growing chest mane, though not by much, two months older than Simba. His eyes were orange, like Simba's, and his ears were decorated with black tufts that matched the color of his mane. Being the oldest, he was confident and energetic, but was not someone who was too proud to admit his own flaws and apologize for his mistakes. Most of his claims would be supported by reasoned arguments, because he thought his answers through with logic. He was sociable and therefore likable by the pride. He was betrothed to Nyota for marriage by Numa, who saw in him the most able successor.

The other male cub was Jabari, who was a short-tempered, reckless fellow with a love for adventure. He boasted about his abilities very often to others, and more often than not, it landed him into trouble. Still, he was always optimistic about life, and had a rather electrifying sense of humor. He was a month younger than Simba. His fur was a grayish shade of tawny, and his messy tuft of hair was gradually turning into a sprouting black mane. Unlike Simba, he lacked ear rims, and his underbelly fur extended to the head rather than stopping at the chest.

Other than Nyota, there were two more girls. One was Duara, a round-faced cub with near-orange fur, two months younger than Simba. She had rimmed ears and a small, dark spot on her nose. She was an easy-going cub who enjoyed the company of other lions, and was very tidy about her outward appearance, which she takes great care of. She was good at remembering new faces after chatting with them, but she was rather forgetful and flighty, which made her unreliable at times.

The other girl's name was Sukari. She was three months younger than Simba, and had an ocker coat, and light blue eyes. Unlike Duara, she had no ear rims, but she also had a fairly rounded face. Her most distinguishing trait were several coffee-colored spots that came under each of her eyes. Sukari was known as a soft-spoken and gentle soul who preferred the company of small animals to others, as her idealistic views were rather awkward to the other cubs. Still, she was always empathetic and willing to sacrifice her own time in favor of others. She was also very loyal to her peers, and at times they appreciated it. Overall, she was still viewed as a beautiful young girl.

After those two months, Simba had already turned one year old, but none of the friends he knew before even knew that he was alive, let alone were there to wish him well on his first birthday. He still missed Nala's sassy mischief, Tojo's flock of birds, Chumvi's jokes, Tama's annoyance and Kula's love for food. Even though Simba knew he missed his true home, he had a loving stepmother, he has met a number of good friends and he was content with his life here, and there was not much more he could ask for to be content. Except for one matter in particular: today was not just any day. Today was the holiday of Upendi: the cherished day of love, where couples would grant one another gifts as tokens of their feelings, or a day when individuals would confess them to their beloved for the first time in hopes of creating a flame that would burn for a long time. Simba was no different than the latter. It was late midday, and he was waiting for Tarzan near the river bank: he was reflecting on his already lasting infatuation with Nyota: he did not want to get his mind off her, and mulled the past few days over in seeking manners to win her attention. Still, none of the things he tried seemed to be functional, because each time he tried, it seemed as though she was only responding to him for the sake of it, only to pull her away from the younger cub. In addition, he was so besotted that he paid no heed ,to those who where telling him that the young princess was already betrothed, and intended to be married. Not before long, the king of the apes crept down from the vines, and sneaked behind the cub quietly, hanging in the trees. Then, he screeched loudly, imitating the sound of a chimpanzee. Simba jolted suddenly, and looked behind to see none other than his friend, with a palm on his brow, laughing at his reaction.

"Hey!" Simba said to him, rubbing his ears to try and heal the slight pain in them: "Can't you be something less scary?"

"Wanna hear my hippo?" Tarzan asked, and then imitated the short, gruff grunting that is the most common sound that a hippo makes. Upon hearing this, Simba laughed, and jumped into Tarzan's lap, as he had already descended from the canopy.  
He then twisted Simba's whiskers playfully and asked him: "So, how are you doing, future lover lion?"

"Tarzan, I'm stuck." Simba said, explaining his confusion at what was going on, and rubbing his whiskers into place: "I don't know what to do to get Nyota to love me back the same. Can you help me?"

"Well..." Tarzan said, looking to the side, as if he was thinking about whether or not he should help.

"Please?" Simba beckoned, with a pleading look in his young eyes, and a toothy grin to win over Tarzan.

"Have you tried bringing her flowers?" Tarzan asked. Even he could notice that Nyota was not particularly interested in Simba.

"Well, no." Simba said, looking down, then back up at Tarzan: "You think that'll work?"

"You know what, Simba? I still think she's not that into you." Tarzan added, trying to kick some sense into the cub.

"What do you mean she isn't? Of course she is. She's just hiding it because she knows I'm the one." Simba said, with a smug expression on his face, even though this judgment was an excuse to justify his already futile mission.

"Or, she doesn't care." Tarzan countered, with an argument that came from his own observation of Nyota's behavior, and it was not very positive: he could see Nyota rolling her eyes whenever she passed by Simba, which indicated that the cub was very needy. Another thing he noticed is that Sukari, the youngest cub, was constantly looking at Simba when he was close by, and that there were times she only ever talked to him. He then tried to redirect his attention: "What of that little Sukari girl? She's a pretty cub."

"Yeah, she's pretty alright, and she's whiny, and confused and childish, should I go on?" Simba rebuked.

"Well, if you didn't notice, she can't take her eyes off of you." Tarzan added, with a confident grin.

"What?" Simba asked, somewhat surprised, with the same smug smile on his face.

"I've seen her. Sometimes, you're the only one she talks to. I don't know what you think, but I'm pretty sure she likes you." Tarzan added.

"Well, I don't know..." Simba said, already looking down pensively, as he knew that Sukari was a rather compassionate soul, which irritated him deep inside, but he didn't want to show his annoyance to her directly, as not to hurt her. He was more attracted to a confident, social and energetic girl, which in his eyes, was only Nyota.

"Well, it's all up to you, but I can show you where to get those special flowers that I picked for Jane the first time we were together." Tarzan added, implying that he will help Simba after all. Soon, a large male hippopotamus was slowly swimming towards them: he had several small holes on his muzzle, which imply bite marks from crocodiles and others of his own kind that dared to attack him, and was very large. This was Duro, the leader of the largest pod of hippos that lived in the jungle, but he came to Tarzan and Simba with a welcoming smile. Thick eyebrows raised pleasantly, as a deep, pleasant voice greeted them: "Well, look who's here! How are you doing, Tarzan?"

"Pretty cool, Duro." Tarzan replied, patting the hippo on the back, and then moving onto it, standing in a sitting pose with legs crossed together: "I have to show my friend here how to impress the girls." he giggled, noticing that Simba was not overly pleased by his joke, as he was rolling his eyes while passing to Duro's back himself. Soon, the male hippopotamus was curious about who the young cub was: "So, what's our little bo's name?"

"Huh? Uh.. Simba. My name's Simba." he responded. He didn't know exactly where Tarzan was taking him, and thus was urged to ask in a gust of curiosity: "So, where are we going, Tarzan?"

"To Kudu grove, little buddy. I've got something you'll really need." Tarzan replied, intent on showing Simba the most beautiful flowers in the jungle, to give him some leverage over a girl that Tarzan doubted would be attracted to Simba, based on what he saw before. Still, he didn't want to spoil his hopes, but he also wanted him to learn a lesson based on his experiences, to not make oversights to protect his own ego from being hurt, out of fear of losing something that may not be so important to him after all. After a few more minutes afloat, they would soon arrive at the place that Tarzan has been mentioning. It was a fairly large grove, only surrounded by bamboo shoots, but otherwise clear and sunlit.

"Thanks for the ride, old fella!" Tarzan said to him, winking with a smile.

"He he, I'm not so old, kid." Duro remarked, before sinking down beneath the surface.

The two companions then walked away from the bank. As they moved to the last bamboo shoot, Tarzan moved aside a single fern that was blocking Simba's view of the place: "Well, Simba, I promised it, and here it is: Kudu grove, home of clear skies and the most beautiful flowers in the jungle. Knock yourself out!"

"Well, it sure is wonderful..." Simba said, mouth agape, looking at the vast expanses of various flowers. In his eyes, it was a sea of violets and orchids, and there was more than enough to choose from for the young cub, because he saw the brightest variety of colors: he wanted to choose a multitude of different colors, rather than more of a single color, to be more interesting in Nyota's eyes. He made haste, however, and managed to pick out a solid bouquet of flowers. Some blue violets, some white, some orchids, all in all, with various colors. He came to the long-haired ape king with the flowers in his jaws, ready to be taken to Nyota.

"So, are you ready?" Tarzan asked, only to receive a nod from Simba in response, as well as an exceptionally confident expression in his eyes. Tarzan then crouched over to him and said: "Don't be afraid to say nice things about her, but don't push it, okay?" To this, Simba winked, and joyously ran toward a possible location where she might be. Tarzan stood in his place, watching where the cub was heading, so that he could see how it would go down from the safety of the trees. He had to make sure how it went, and to be there when Simba is proven right or wrong. However, Tarzan thought it was not bound to end in Simba's favor, and that a girl like Nyota is already taken, or that she is plainly ignoring Simba for seeing him as a nuissance. As soon as Simba had moved far enough, Tarzan once more took to the trees, bent on checking on his friend.

* * *

Later in the evening, Simba went through the undergrowth in a trotting gait, as happy as ever, and bent on having Nyota as his own significant other. Right now, he felt like he would rather leap into the mouth of a crocodile than risk spending Upendi alone, and he told himself that inside his head, over and over again. So ridden by infatuation that he could not see past his own desires. During his walk back to the Hotan territory, he passed by an ever lonely Sukari, unbeknownst to him. She was playing with a vine, but not out of vigor, but out of boredom and sadness, as she felt that she was the only one today that was alone. She dropped the vine and lowered her head into her paws, flinching her shoulders and letting out muffled sobs, which clearly showed that she was crying. Simba did not hear this, because of his own twitterpation that made him ignore his surroundings to a great extent. As he moved on, he finally managed to spot Nyota, and hid into a nearby bush to avoid being seen right away. When he came in for a closer look, he could clearly see that she was not alone. She was with Wakaidi...

Simba's eyes flew wide open as he saw them snuggled together, leaning against a large mahogany tree, whispering sweet words of kindness and affection, which clearly showed that they were together for a time: adding to Simba's dismay, the rumors that she was betrothed to Wakaidi for marriage were as true as the light of day. Simba's lax jaw suddenly dropped completely, and thus the flowers he intended to give to Nyota fell on the soft jungle floor. He shook his head in utter shock and disbelief, eyes twitching, not only because he has been tricked and proven wrong, but because what he hoped to see in her was crushed and disproved by a single sight that told him everything. His initial shock then turned into an anguished pain, as he started to breathe rapidly in his incredulous state of mind. What he called a tingle in his stomach turned into an intense discomfort in his heart, and he could feel his eyes starting to itch a little, before he realized that he has no place amongst these two. He lost her and there was nothing more to be done about it. He couldn't stay there any longer. He wanted to run, but he had to quietly sneak away from the scene, and as he did, he could hear the sound of a lightning strike from afar, and he knew it was about to rain soon. But he did not want to go back to the pride. He did not want to see any more of the two that now called themselves lovers.

For a while, as he left the sight, he maintained his composure, trying to cope with this loss. But wherever he would turn, he would see two joyous hornbills flying in a couple, offering one another food. He turned his head away from the sight, as the rain continued to fall harder by the second. But even now, the lonely cub could see animals of all kinds, running about him in couples, filled with joy, and sharing the one thing that was taken from him: love. He was alone. He couldn't take it anymore. Gentle stroking, kissing, nuzzling, licking... it grated his heart more and more. Until, at last, when the rain had started to fall with a steady and strong rhythm, he burst into running, with sobbing breaths, and he moved as far as his legs could carry him, as he just wanted to get away from the thing that caused him so much pain. He was angry at her, angry at other couples, and angry at himself for being so stubborn and naive. At last, he managed to find a dead, empty tree trunk where he buried himself, caught his breath, and spilled out his agony, crying in anguish, with his head stuck into his forearms, grasping his brow as self-punishment. 'How could I have been so stupid? Tarzan was right all along.' was the main thought that cut into his mind as he cried on. After a few minutes, he could only look outside the tree as raindrops continued to hammer the jungle. Unsurprisingly, he felt empty, and more lonely than ever, because he felt that nothing could make him feel happy at this moment, and that no girl could stand in Nyota's place now. But he tried to get himself to accept that there was no hope for anything with her, which made him sadder. With no hope of solving it himself, he decided to go to Tarzan's treehouse, where everyone would understand him, and some even help him. Confused, heartbroken and displeased, Simba moved on...


	8. To Open a Heart

That evening, Simba hastily headed to the treehouse, seeing that no one in the pride would be able to fully understand him, nor mend his broken, deceived heart. The rain stopped falling for the time being, and a slow wind blew across the jungle, making the air slightly colder than usual. When the cub arrived on the scene, he could see nothing of surprise: Tantor was still on his watch spot, as well as the great gorilla Taug. The saddened cub walked slowly towards the bridge, head hung low, with a gaze turned ahead.

"Hey, Simba, what's wrong?" Tantor asked, noticing that the young lion was clearly not pleased.

"Nothing." Simba replied briefly, and continued to mind his own business. The elephant looked on with concern, and sighed.  
However, it came to him that the possible reason of his dissatisfaction was the fact that he failed to gain anyone's love on what was praised as the day of love. He didn't do anything about it, but he did not have any major regrets for it.

The golden cub was inside the house in no time, and shook off the water that drenched his pelt, and started looking for any place in the house that would make him as solitary as possible, for the time being. He looked out of the nearest window of the house, and saw that the rain was starting to fall once more, followed by the sound of a lightning strike. Unbeknownst to him, Tarzan was again sneaking behind him, crouched in a four-legged posture, until he got directly behind Simba. He got up on two and suddenly said: " **Boo!** "

The cub only slightly flinched at this sudden sound, but was not dissuaded from looking at nowhere but outside, not in the mood for speech as he was. Terk was sitting relatively nearby and was paying attention to the young lion's obviously bad mood, and Tarzan trying to bring him to cheer. Timon and Pumbaa were also nearby, picking their teeth from a feast of hard insects.

"Something wrong? You look like you've eaten a stinkbug." Tarzan said, even though he knew exactly what happened back in the jungle and what caused Simba's discomfort: he saw everything that happened from the safety of the tree canopy, but he did not want to reveal any of it to Simba, for a better-flowing conversation with advice. Still, Simba did not respond at all, and he did his best to hide his eyes and his face.

"Girl dumped you on Upendi?" Timon added wittily, after picking a tooth, thinking that it, in particular, might very likely be the cause.

Simba only turned around and nodded his head as he looked at Timon, then lay down.

"Aw... Don't feel bad." Pumbaa said compassionately, as he walked over to Simba with Timon on his back.

"I told you that girl was trouble, but no, you wouldn't listen." Tarzan added, nudging Simba with his finger playfully as he tried to snap Simba out of his bad mood, but the cub was still very apparently sulking.

"Hey, you still have six days of Upendi left!" Terk said, as she started to approach Simba, with a whimsical grin on her face, trying to get into Simba's head: "You'll find somebody else."

Simba cringed at the thought an immediately rebuked it to avoid any more heartbreak; in addition, he still hasn't quite gotten over Nyota: "I don't wanna fall in love anymore..."

"Because one girl out of a sea of girls who's wrong for you is with someone else?" Tarzan asked, not confused, but already in disagreement and ready to teach Simba how to improve his love mindset the right way, by using himself as an example: "Take a look at me. I never met a woman until I met Jane, because we people don't live in these parts. Think about how many lost Upendis that was for me. You, however, actually get to meet lions, so you're in a better place than I am." Simba was rather shocked to hear about this, as he looked into Tarzan's eyes when he spoke of this with utter disbelief. Still, he managed to understand how hard it must have been for him to not ever see his kind until he met Jane, and he was told by Tarzan already that humans and gorillas live a lot longer than lions. He understood that he acted in a spoiled, selfish and unkind manner towards the other girls while chasing an illusion of love.

"Yeah, you're right..." Simba said, looking into his own paws, then back at Tarzan again: "So, should I forget that this thing with Nyota ever happened?"

"Well that's not a bad idea." Terk said: "It don't matter who she is: now she's nobody to you. You can and will find someone else, and it's gonna be great. Just don't spend your time thinking, and start doing stuff."

"Well, in times like this, you should remember the two golden words!" Timon said, nudging Simba on the shoulder in an urge to make him recall their motto.

"Hakuna Matata..." Pumbaa said in agreement, with a sigh of relaxation.

"Timon and Pumbaa are right too. For one, you'll actually feel better." Tarzan added, stroking Simba's head with his hand: "Also, remember this: one of the best things you can do is to not do to others what you wouldn't want to be done to you. If you do good to others, the good will be returned for sure. Just don't do special good to those who don't deserve it. Got it?" Tarzan then offered his right hand for a Jane-shake.

Simba's sulking expression eventually melted into a smile, and he lay his right front paw on Tarzan's hand: "No problem... And I think I should get to sleep now. Good night."

"Night, kid." Timon said.

"Night." Pumbaa also said, while Tarzan only looked behind him, hoping that he finally understood what exactly it was that Simba has done wrong in this case. From the look he had in his eyes and the way he listened to Tarzan when he caved, the cub seemed to understand. Tarzan then moved up into the bedroom to go to sleep himself.

* * *

The next day, Simba returned to the pride in the morning, to resume his normal life and regain his footing. When he came to the pride's territory, he tried not to look at Nyota for a longer while, because he didn't want to be reminded of his crush on her anymore. He wanted to do what Tarzan and his other friends told him last night: to move on and let go, and hopefully find someone else. He still talked about it with Huduma, who was, more or less, the only pride member whom he could trust with his most intimate troubles, and he confided to her all that happened yesterday, only to hear the same words of advice, and critique, for ignoring that Nyota was a princess, and that she had to be betrothed to someone. Huduma also told him that she saw Sukari in tears yesterday, and that she has constantly been eyeing Simba for quite a while, which implied that she liked him. Still, Simba felt that it was a large hurdle for him and that getting over unrequited love was going to be, in one way or another, rather difficult. She also told him that the notorious leopard duo that attacked him before, Nuru and Sheeta, have returned to the part of the jungle that's adjacent to the Hotan territory, and that Simba should on no account go there, or lead anyone else from the pride there.

That midday, when the younger pride members feasted on what was left of today's kills, Simba ate as well, but today, he noticed something awkward that he hasn't seen before: Sukari was standing by the side, and clearly in discomfort. As he caught sight of her with the edge of his eye, Simba abandoned his food as he noticed something very worrisome about the girl: she was behind him, seated, but with eyes half-shut and clinging to her belly, apparently waiting for everyone to just be gone, so that she could eat whatever was left in the end, but when she did that, there was hardly anything left. With a flare of pity in his heart, Simba forsook his own needs to help the girl, and stepped aside, addressing her: "Hey, Sukari, come eat. This is for you."

Sukari looked at Simba immediately, driven by hunger. However, she stopped and compulsively thought of whether or not Simba has had his fill, and subconsciously cared for his fill. Therefore, she asked him: "But, what about you?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." Simba rebuked, shaking his head, and then looking at Sukari with an amiable smile upon his maw. The young lioness cub smiled back, at first confused, but eventually understanding that it was better for her to accept this offer. She went on to eat moderately and slowly, which has grown into her manners due to the meticulous care she took of her actions, all in accordance with what her mother has taught her. She was also very grateful and somewhat happier than before, because in a long while, someone beside her mother cared about her, and someone was there whom she could follow and call an honest friend. Yet she knew that her approach to others was faulty as well: this is why she felt she needed a guide, someone to show her how to behave in social situations without sounding awkward or boring. In addition, Simba did not help her at all because he wanted to have her by the end of Upendi, but because he wanted to get her out of trouble. He was still not attracted to her immediately, but as he looked at her more carefully, he could see the beauty that he was blind to earlier: due to being younger, she appealed much more to Simba than Nyota did, because she was shorter and younger, and therefore more willing to listen than someone who was older and more independent.

A few minutes later, Simba would see the ocker she-cub lying down on her back, now holding a full belly with her left paw, dozing in the shade. Noticing this, Simba was compelled to come to her again, and to spend some more time with her.

"You ate like a pig, didn't you?" Simba said, as he stood above her, behind her head.

She only giggled, blushing to see the golden boy so close to her. She forgot to thank him immediately, but she did not forget. In fact, how could she? She summoned up the courage to look at him and say: "Thanks."

"Aw, don't mention it." Simba responded, as he lay down next to her, in a reclining position, with his front paws firmly on the ground, and his back paws splayed to his left. He then proceeded to ask her: "Are you always alone like that?"

"Well, yeah.." Sukari immediately frowned, recalling her earlier days of being bullied and ignored. Still, she didn't want to start a conversation about it, so she deadpanned a response: "I really don't wanna talk about it."

"Oh, okay.." Simba said, as he lay his head down, but not without taking another look at Sukari. However, it was met by a glare from the girl almost immediately, and she eagerly asked: "Would you wanna see my pets?"

"Your what?" Simba asked confusedly.

"My pets, in the jungle." Sukari added: "I have a couple of lizards, a turtle and a flock of birds that live close by. I play around with them when I'm not with the others, because the others care about themselves too much.."

Simba was surprised at Sukari's opinion about the rest of the cubs from the pride, and he did not agree with it. He has met everyone, and not once did he run into a highly selfish cub, other than Nyota. Even her fiancee, Wakaidi, was much kinder: "I don't think they do, Sukari. I met them all, and I'm doing fine with most of them. Maybe you should give them another try someday. I'll be with you."

Sukari was a little reluctant at first, but eventually, she felt that Simba could give her the courage that she needed to confront her fear of interactions with others. She trusted him, and saw that she had to fix something about herself to be happier, for in her mind, to be foolish is not to take responsibility for one's own life: "Oh.. Why not? But you gotta see those pets."

"When?" Simba asked again, growing curious.

"How about now?" Sukari asked ever more eagerly.

"Sure.." Simba grinned affirmatively. He did not cave to her wishes simply out of compulsion, but because he was frankly interested in seeing Sukari's world, and its beauties, before he would help her adjust to the pride's social life. The two then wandered off into a nearby grove in the jungle, under a fallen tree, where her reptiles usually gathered. They spent a good hour in there, with Simba examining the animals that Sukari played with: there were three-horned chameleons, other smaller lizards, amphibians like frogs and salamanders, and a fairly large leopard tortoise that was surprisingly quick. All in all, Simba enjoyed this time, and it offered him something different from what he usually saw, as he listened to every word of advice Sukari had for how to treat the exotic animals. He also found out that there was nothing awkward or unusual about Sukari: only that her desire to be with others has dwindled due to her poor skills in conversation. Overall, Simba felt that this was the beginning of a new, vigorous friendship, if anything...


	9. A Brush With Danger

Two weeks later, something strange was at work in the southwestern part of the territory that belonged to the Hotan pride, and it indeed had something to do with the things Huduma told Simba earlier, about some strange leopards moving too close to the den. The word quickly spread from jungle birds, across the monkeys and apes that lived in the trees, until it finally reached the largest of the ground-dwellers, and eventually the troop that Tarzan was leading. Though they were far enough from the treehouse not to pose any threat to them, Tarzan knew that this put Simba in danger, should he wander too far from home. Therefore, he had to go and make sure that all the cubs were sticking to the burrows, and to urge Numa to set a watch on the nearby forests, if he has not already. Something had to be done to make safe the very stronghold of a fairly small pride, because a surprise attack by several leopards, as rumored, would be more lethal than any arrogant lion would think, as leopards usually attack and kill one of the most essential parts of a pride: the progeny. This was very risky to allow, especially for a pride that expelled males upon reaching adulthood in the primitive old ways, that were not in adherence to the laws in the Pride Lands until Scar's reign. This only showed that not all lion prides were as advanced as some exceptional ones, and that disparities and geographical distance has influenced them to form their laws and rules independently, each in their own fashion.

Tarzan was moving through the jungle across the trees, scouting the surrounding perimeter of the Hotan territory, drawn by the scent of a leopard that seemed to have passed through here recently. Judging by the scent, it was unmistakably a male, drawn here by the smell of the abundance of game animals that lived near the pride's territory, or by the smell of others of its kind, as if he were aiming to drive them out. The king of the apes crept softly up and down the branches, and then descended to a path in the jungle floor, because his sense of smell, though keener than in most other people, was not keen enough to keep track of the leopard's scent in the thick brush that blocked it out. As he crept along, quietly as to not be spotted, he could see distinct, medium-sized tracks with four toes splaying ahead, and a small print of the foot below: it was beyond doubt the same leopard, and looking at the tracks, Tarzan knew that they were fresh. He hastened back up, into the canopy, to follow them and see where they led. By the size of the tracks, he was large, and probably one of the older males from the jungle, which is exactly what Tarzan hoped not to run into, because a more experienced leopard is a much greater threat than younger ones the likes of Nuru and Sheeta. Pass a few hundred meters, and Tarzan could see something rather alarming: three leopards were sitting together, in a circle, in the midst of a small clearing surrounded by bones of eaten prey. Two of the leopards were black, and one was large and spotted. It seemed that they were discussing something, and knowing how volatile leopards are towards their opposition, Tarzan crept as close as he could to overhear what the conversation was about. Looking more closely at the spotted leopard, he could see that he was no ordinary leopard: it was Waridi, a male that spent a lot of time hunting beside the feared leopardess, Sabor. He had a scar running down his head, from its top, down his muzzle, until stopping at his mouth.

"Tarzan has wounded me before, and so have the Hotan pride, in their arrogance and desire for power. I have spent my days hiding in the underbrush from those who claim for themselves what is not theirs by right, and use words to intimidate the ones whose prowess they see as threats, when their feeble deeds can't prove it." the elder leopard spoke, addressing the twins: "Do you wish to firmly claim the territory that has always belonged to our kind?"

"You better believe it..." Nuru said, being the more stern of the two.

"If it weren't for those few lion prides, we'd rule from shore to shore. The jungle would tremble at our sight and no one would dare stand up to us. But then again, we have the man-ape, Tarzan, who's tough to beat." Sheeta added.

"He can also call animals by speaking their language and he knows plenty of them." Nuru continued.

"Don't start on that now, young ones." Waridi raised his paw in objection: "I know who Tarzan is, and what he is capable of. But he has one crippling flaw: he cannot face a number of foes on his own, and this is when we must act. We have to find him when he is alone, and helpless, to deal the killer blow immediately. He never scouts with a companion, and I wouldn't be too surprised if he actually spied on us right now... As for the pride, we'll have a better chance of eliminating them if we attack and kill their progeny, as well as eliminate any lone lionesses. Not even Numa will stand a chance against the three of us."

Tarzan's eyebrows lowered into a very angry expression, as he, with growing concern, inched his head a little closer. He knew that he had to take action immediately to warn everyone he held dear that there were not only two younger leopards threatening them, but that there was also a third, experienced and very dangerous one leading them. He didn't want to make any sudden moves, as there was more that had to be said from what Tarzan could gather. It was also fortunate, in Tarzan's favor, that none of the three was looking upward, otherwise, he could be spotted.

"Let's go scout the southwest. He might be looking for us there, because it's our favorite turf." said Waridi imperatively, as he started to move in the right direction. Nuru and Sheeta followed suite, side by side as always.

This was ill news: if the three would get too close to the pride, unchecked, they would pose a serious threat to oblivious lions who would wander too close to their hunting grounds, or anywhere near their vicinity that would endanger their lives. Tarzan hung as still as an apple, waiting for the moment when the leopard would be out of sight, so that he could leave and inform the pride and his family that there was a new clan of leopards that could pose a serious threat to them. He crept away from the sight, and into the trees, first heading toward the Hotan pride, because they were closer than the treehouse at this given time and place. He tried to avoid using vines, doing so only when he was urged to, so he was mainly confined to the thick, long tree branches that stretched from one tree to the other. He didn't want to arouse attention from the leopards, lest they should be drawn to it and turn back, possibly attacking him. Therefore, he gracefully moved on, later allowing himself the freedom of using vines to move more quickly than he would by taking time to climb from one near tree to the other. The king of the apes was opportunistic and versatile when it came to anything, and means of travel were something he excelled at, because he was intelligent and capable of finding many manners of travelling that others couldn't, which is why many of the animals in the jungle called him 'the crafty one'.

However, as he moved on, he could hear a very quiet sound behind him. As if something was rustling behind him, sliding across the branches as if it was following him without a step. Tarzan stood still, but as he looked above, and to his sides, all he could see is a great number of green coils hanging from the trees. He knew that he had walked into a trap, because he knew that there was only one snake that was this large: Hista, the great tree python of the western jungles. Soon, a small head quickly struck from above, biting an unsuspecting Tarzan on the left arm, and holding tightly with his needle-like teeth sunk into the man's flesh. The king of the apes screamed in pain, but managed to drag himself to the trunk of a tree and then repeatedly strike Histah's head, still latched onto his arm, against the tree trunk, and doing so several times, he utterly shook off the snake's grip, releasing his arm from his gripping bite. However, the gigantic reptile would not stop his assault there, because he wanted to turn Tarzan into a meal, after several failures: he wrapped his coils around his left leg, and then around both of them, and then the chest, but not the arms. Squeezing tightly, he tried to cut off his blood and oxygen supply, thus killing him and making him an easy meal. However, Tarzan was not willing to give up, and could see an escape route right away; he used both of his arms to bring the snake's coils closer to his mouth: then, he bit them as hard as he possibly could, causing him to release him once more. Tarzan then fled, and as he looked around, he could see a large tree with many intertwining branches, which reminded him of the old way that Tarzan used to defeat the snake. He moved to the tree, and entered the first hole between two looping branches, and Histah followed him. However, after the second time, the serpent pulled back, not wanting to fall for Tarzan's scheme again. So, when the man thought he was winning, he saw the python's head before him once more, with a petrifying stare and a spine-chilling hiss, his forked tongue coming out every now and then, as he prepared to lunge at Tarzan for the last time... but the king of the apes was not done yet. Seeing a very narrow gap in the trunk behind him, he turned around and waited for the attack to come. Histah lunged with all his might, but Tarzan immediately launched himself into the air, and the python's head flew into the gap in the tree trunk, tightly sticking in. The giant reptile struggled on, as Tarzan sighed and said to him: "Better luck next time, old boy.."

The king of the apes saw that he was very close to the Hotan's turf, as there was only one tree line separating him from the Maji lake, as much as his eyes could tell. He descended from the trees and proceeded to walk to the place. There, he could see the pride going about their daily business as usual. He could see Numa and his mate sunning themselves on the large rock that stood out from the rest, while the other lionesses were either lying around them or near the den. The cubs were playing near the lake's shore, though not very closely to avoid any possible dangers. Tarzan proceeded to Numa, who could spot him even from a relaxed position. The usually stern lion smiled in gladness at the ape king's return: "Tarzan, old friend!"

"Numa!" Tarzan said, waving his hand towards him, as he finally stopped at the base of the rock he was sitting on.

"What brings you to-... you are injured!" the lion's joy turned into concern after he saw Tarzan's bloodied left arm and the puncture marks that riddled it, and he knew that he was hurt somehow.

"Oh, I just had a little spar with old Histah. I'll be fine." Tarzan replied, knowing that he will easily manage to heal the wounds. However, he was not dissuaded from his cause, and thus, he addressed the pride leader once more: "I have some news that concern your pride and their safety."

"Darling, excuse me." Numa said to his mate, who nodded and descended from the rock, while Numa leaped off, facing Tarzan himself: "If it concerns the safety of my pride, it concerns me. What is it that you have found?"

"Nuru and Sheeta aren't alone out there." Tarzan said: "There's another leopard with them. An older one, who used to be the mate of Sabor. If these three start an action against your pride, they may succeed in harming it, because leopards are very light on their feet, and they strike in the latest hours. They might kill all of these cubs if we're not vigilant enough."

As Numa listened, he grew ever more worried, as he knew that a large, experienced leopard would exert great damage on his adversaries, should he spread his influence to two younger members of his kind. And he knew about Waridi by the very mention of Sabor, because the two of them killed a whole litter of cubs in a neighboring pride to sabotage their population, and even attacked the Hotan pride once. Numa has bore a scar on his muzzle ever since, inflicted by none other than Waridi. The lion then nodded his head in understanding and responded: "I will see that the watch is doubled, and that the cubs do not stray far from the den. This also counts for Simba."

"Thank you. It's important for all of us to stay safe.." Tarzan said, and then it came to him: he wanted to know more about Simba. Thus, he asked Numa: "How's Simba doing?"

"The little sun-furred lad is doing fine." Numa added with a smile: "He is fond of Huduma, content with his food, and plays with his peers. I suppose he is leading a happy life, indeed, thanks to you. All in all, he's fit in quite nicely. I am quite fond of him myself as well, because he is daring, but does not make the same mistake twice. When he learns that there is something wrong, he will think twice. When he came, he was unaccustomed to our ways, but slowly, he managed to once again grasp the life of lions, and he did so quickly. Did he have a pride before?"

"I... I don't know." Tarzan said: "We've never really spoken about that."

"I see..." Numa replied solemnly, only to see that Simba was trotting their way.

* * *

 **Well, there you go! A little Tarzan moment in what was mostly a story about Simba. I hope you enjoyed it, and I will always be sure to write credits where needed. This time, they're needed quite a bit.**

 **I wanted to clarify some things regarding the characters:**

 **1\. Taug appears in the short stories related to Tarzan: his physical appearance is based on an anonymous, obese gorilla from the Disney film.**

 **2\. The Sabor that killed Tarzan's family is not the same Sabor that was killed by Tarzan, because it is impossible for a leopard to live that long. Their physical resemblance must have caused this** **mistaking. So, Waridi is the mate of Sabor Jr, who is the cub of the Sabor that killed Tarzan's family.**

 **3\. Numa is loosely based on the character from the Tarzan novels, and more so on the Congo lions that used to inhabit the rainforests of central Africa, even though this takes place further to the east.**

 **As for the imagined voice talent behind all the new characters:**

 **Nuru - Michael Madsen**

 **Sheeta - Jim Cummings  
**

 **Taug - Forest Whitaker**

 **Numa - Patrick Stewart**

 **Huduma - Susan Egan**

 **Nyota - Jodie Sweetin  
**

 **Sukari - Mary Kate (or Ashley) Olsen**

 **Duro - Michael Clarke Duncan**

 **Waridi - Ron Perlman**


	10. In Love Again - Buto

"Tarzan!" Simba called out, addressing his human friend, glad to see him after a while.

"Simba!" Tarzan said, crouching over to him: "Gimme a paw swipe!" And so, Simba gently struck Tarzan's right hand with his right paw, but then jerked his head suddenly when he looked at his left arm: it was wounded and bleeding. The cub asked: "What happened to your arm? You're hurt."

"I am, a little." Tarzan explained: "I was fighting with a snake, but in the end, I was too quick for him." he concluded with a wink of his eye and a confident grin.

"We have just spoken of you, young one." Numa added, earning Simba's attention immediately.

"So, how are you doing, little buddy?" Tarzan asked, as he hung himself low.

"Oh, guess what?" Simba started talking, about something that happened to him later: "I was moving around the lake with my friends, when we saw this big elephant with dark skin! And I think one of his tusks was broken. We didn't want to come any closer, because he seemed dangerous."

"That must be Mabaya, the rogue." Numa said, for himself, though Tarzan could hear this very well, and was legitimately worried, but not nearly as worried as he was about the newly formed coalition between the three leopard that he saw today, so he was compelled to give Simba a warning about it: "Simba, don't wander too far into the jungle to the south of your den. There's-"

"The two black leopards that attacked me when we first met?" Simba interrupted, since he was already told by Huduma to take care not to wander into those parts, but that wasn't the worst of what the king of the apes would say.

"Yes, but there's another problem." Tarzan continued, gesturing with his hands as he spoke: "There's a third leopard, who is big, old and experienced, and he's siding against both the pride and my troop, so I'd advise you not to go there at all at night, or even at day, because they'll find you pretty easily."

"Alright, I won't." Simba winked, smiling in affirmation, because even though he was a risk-taker, he was not that foolhardy to leap into mortal danger while being aware of it. However, he had pressing matters to tend to, so he had to bring an end to his current conversation with Tarzan: "Okay, I gotta go!"

"To where?" Tarzan asked.

"I've got something important to do, no time to explain!" Simba said, as he ran away from Tarzan and headed into the eastern part of the jungle, towards the river. Tarzan felt quite confident that it was safe territory, as the leopards were not sighted in those parts, according to the most recent news from the other jungle animals. So, he was mostly sure that the golden cub would not land himself into trouble. He only waved his hand and called out: "Just be careful!"

The true reason Simba decided to slip away was not too different from a cause in his past: he liked a girl once more, but this time, it surely wasn't Nyota. It wasn't Duara either. Shockingly to him, it was the very girl Simba looked down upon in earlier days until he actually decided to put his prejudice aside, and decided to really meet her: Sukari. Over the past few weeks, he found out that she is not just a confused, lost girl who likes to fantasize, but that she is compassionate, honest, loyal, and trustworthy. She has also shown a strong will to make friends with others, ever since he started spending time with a gregarious and outgoing Simba, for the sake of giving her soul some vent, to make up for all the wasted time in solitude and sadness. It worked, because Simba taught her how to deal with her past, and the rest of the cubs eventually embraced Sukari rightfully as one of their own, their friend, and with opening herself up, she earned their respect. The way she looked at Simba didn't change very much. Before, even though she liked him, she viewed him as slightly arrogant, course and unrefined, if not reckless. But since he actually got to know her, he's become more prudent, but he saw that if he cared for someone, he was generous with his kindness and protection. He has grown very fond of the tufted little cub, and it didn't take very long for him to like her. He knew that Sukari still had a crush on him, and he has grown to like her as well, and he thought that she earned a date as a reward. All that he needed to do now is find the right place to arrange that date, and how it should play out, because Simba, as someone who loved grandeur, wanted to make it unforgettable. As he moved through the jungle, he couldn't resist breaking into song to explain his feelings.

 _There's something there,_

 _I never thought I'd feel 'til now._

 _My heart's a-beating crazy,_

 _Gotta calm it somehow!_

 _I need to see, if she's right for me,_

 _When I read the look in her eyes._

Some of the jungle birds irresistibly caught onto this new song of young love, and immediately followed suite, by singing in the ancient language of all animals that lived in Africa:

 _ **Mimi akaanguka katika upendo! Mimi akanguka katika upendo!**_

Unbeknownst to Simba, he was being followed by two shadowy features, creeping about in the foliage: unmistakably the two leopard siblings, Nuru and Sheeta, who somehow managed to catch wind of the cub, and were trying to kill him. Simba continued his song, as he moved on.

 _Somewhere in here,_

 _I'll find a place for her and me._

 _Where our hearts will join_

 _In perfect harmony!_

 _I feel it's close, I've got it on my nose,_

 _Just across the waterway!_

 _ **Mimi akaanguka katika upendo...**_

As he sung this, he slid down a tree branch, and grabbed a vine to swing from one tree to the other, and again, unbeknownst to him, was pounced on by Sheeta, who tried to grab him, but missed him and fell down on the soft jungle floor. The leopard got up, raising his head to follow the cub with his gaze, and eventually Nuru in gait, as he passed by him. Simba soon landed on a small tree that bent down to the ground as he landed on it, but he quickly descended from it, and as it recoiled, it hit Nuru in the head, as he pounced to try and reach Simba, and failed no more like his brother. They noticed quickly that the cub was already on the river, jumping from hippo to hippo, to cross to the other bank.

 _Oh, how amazing it would be,_

 _When I look at her, she looks at me,_

 _And we join up_

 _For the first time in our lives!_

It came of no surprise that the two leopards followed him, using a dead tree floating in the water to cross over. Yet again, as they once more neared Simba, their log was flipped by a surfacing hippopotamus, and thus, they both ended up in the clean, fairly quickly flowing water, while Simba had already reached the river bank and continued into the jungle.

 _Last time, I knew I was wrong,_

 _But it didn't take me long,_

 _To find out that_

 _There was someone here for me!_

As the two clumsy leopards clawed their way to the bank, they were soaked to the skin, and trembling, as they despise the water, and everything that has to do with it, save for drinking it. They quickly saw that Simba was slipping away, which alarmed Sheeta, the more impulsive one of the two brothers.

"He's gettin' away!" he hissed through whisper as he tried to proceed and follow the cub, but he was bitten by the tail and dragged backwards, which made him almost yelp in pain, by none other than the more tactical Nuru.

"No, turtle-brain! Would you wanna have your skull cracked open when Buto gets you?!" After he uttered this one word, his angry expression turned into a sinister smirk of realization, with good reason. He knew that Buto, the rhinoceros that called the glade where Simba was heading home, was absolutely unwelcoming of anyone, save for his own kind on certain occasions, to this small territory. On top of this, he is known to have killed intruders who unwittingly came there in fits of rage, and that he takes pleasure in humiliating and tormenting the trespassers, and others he was not on good terms with. Why this was so, no one knew, but they knew that they hated the cantankerous lout for his abhorrent behavior.

"Ooo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, he's gonna feel that horn in the morning..." Sheeta replied with a shrill snicker, as he and his twin brother looked on with a smirk in the direction Simba was heading, knowing that it might as well be his own undoing, since the young one had not a slight clue that he was in danger.

Simba walked over a dirt path that led forwards, still looking for an exceptional place to set up his date with Sukari, and walking on, it seemed as if it wouldn't be long before he actually found it. The colors suddenly began to brighten, and the clearing that Simba entered revealed something that would greatly arouse his senses and exceed all of his expectations for a dating spot: in the center of it, there was a fairly large pond, with a glistening reflection of the Sun. As Simba came over for a closer look, he saw that the water was clean and the brightest of blue, with some small fish swimming inside. Turning his gaze right, he could see that the pond was fed by a small stream, and that this water went down a small waterfall, which led to the great river that Simba first crossed to get to this place. The surrounding area had various sorts of flowers and luminescent mushrooms, as well as lilly pads covered some parts of the water. Hornbills, parrots and songbirds sat on the branches of the trees that hung just above the water's surface, and one could also see a few chameleons here and there. The golden cub was utterly besotted by the look of the landscape: he didn't even feel like bothering to look for anything else.

This was just right for what he wanted to see, and was even better than what he originally had in mind. He had to remember where it was and how he got here, because there was no need to look for anything else with a heaven like this around.

"It's perfect..." the boy whispered for himself, looking above to see several birds fly away: "I gotta remember how I came here."

Then, the cub turned back to return home, but instead of seeing the river, his eyes were met by a thick, foggy vapor that struck his face like a cast stone. Simba shook his head, only to see a terrifying sight: a humongous black rhinoceros with a very sharp front horn and a clear look of anger in his eyes, and gritting teeth.

"I'm sorry, uh.. Is this your place?" Simba asked with a shudder in his voice, fearing for his life as his eyes met the rhino's. The armored herbivore only screamed at him loudly: " **Get out!** Ya hear?! Out! Quit the jibber-jabber! Get out til my eyes can't look at you no more!" With this, the cub jolted from his position and started running away from the place, but much to his horror the loutish ungulate hasn't had enough, and chose to gallop after him in hot pursuing, mowing down smaller plants wherever he stepped foot on, snorting and grunting aggressively. As he fled, Simba could see a vine hanging ahead of him. Therefore, as he neared it, he jumped and grabbed it the way Tarzan has taught him, propelling himself forward, and out of the beast's way, and then leaped from tree to tree, heading for the river to escape the rhinoceros' wrath and save his own skin.

"Oh, no you don't, ya little yellow-bellied coot!" the hulk shouted, as he charged straight into the tree that Simba was on, and jabbed his huge horn into its thin trunk: it splintered immediately, and tumbled down with a rustle of its leaves. Simba, caught off guard, flew off with a scream, and landed into a puddle of mud, face first, with a wet splash. With this, the rhinoceros snickered victorious and turned back around, heading into the trees while mumbling to himself.

Drenched, Simba crawled out of the disgusting mud, coughing and spitting, while moving to shore. Disappointed and angry, he jumped back to the opposite river bank to clean himself up. He scooped the mud off himself vigorously, occasionally looking back with a very angry look in his eyes. As he washed off all of the heavier mud, he started licking and grooming himself to make sure he is clean. He felt that he was beaten, but he had no desire to give up something that was so incredible and worthwhile in the hands of a sadistic lout. He wished he could go back and expel the rhino, but he couldn't...

...and then it came to him.

* * *

 _ **The song 'Something There' was written by yours truly. ;) Enjoy and please comment! Also, the rhino's name is Buto, and his name comes from the Mangani word for rhinoceros in the Tarzan fiction. Ideal voice for him? Mr. T!**_

 _ **EDIT: I have completely rewritten the old song into something much more musical!**_


	11. The Diversion

In the next few dozen minutes, Simba went to the treehouse to look for help from Tarzan, because he did not want to let the amazing opportunity for a dating spot he found earlier merely be let go unfought, and wanted to set the date up there, and he didn't want to take anything less than that.

"I heard that you ended up getting covered in mud from some songbirds today." Tarzan said to Simba, chuckling as the cub made his way to him. The king of the apes was sitting on a chair underneath the canopy and eating various fruit served to him in a dish by Jane: these included bananas, mangoes and coconut husk. When Simba heard this whimsical remark, he just rolled his eyes in bitter rememberance of the humiliating scene that happened earlier today.

"Oh, you can laugh about it..." Simba said, heaving a sulking sigh as he sat next to Tarzan.

"Well, what happened?" Tarzan asked him, after finishing a mouthful of fruit and moving his chair closer to the yellow cub.

"I found this really cool place in the jungle to play in, and this grumpy rhino came in and ran me off!" Simba explained. This immediately prevented Tarzan from having another mouthful of fruit, as his relaxation immediately turned to shock, because what happened to Simba was no laughing matter. Tarzan suspected certain specimens immediately, but one of them was in the middle of his memory judging Simba's irritability: the loutish, murderous Buto.

"Did he have a notch on his left ear?" Tarzan asked, remembering this feature in the ungulate rather well.

"Uh, I dunno.." Simba stammered, because he failed to recognize it in him. Still, he knew only one thing: that his temper was extremely volatile and that he was very dangerous: "But he was really angry and loud-mouthed. I'm glad I got out of there okay.."

"Buto..." Tarzan said to himself, remembering the rhinoceros, and the cool place that Simba was talking about. It was once home to a tribe of chimpanzees, but they were ousted by Buto, who unrightfully claimed the land for himself and was known to have insane fits of aggression. With Tarzan's help, Buto was banished, but unbeknownst to the ape king, he has returned once more, and succeeded after leaving the jungle for a while: "I thought I drove him out of there with the chimps."

"Chimps?" Simba asked confusedly, never having heard of these creatures before.

"They are great apes, like the gorillas. But they don't have big bumps on their heads and are a lot smaller. They're really smart, and can use tools, like I can." Tarzan explained, and then moved on to mentioning why they were important to the tale of Buto: "Is that cool place some kind of pond?"

"Yeah." Simba replied, then went on to describe what it was like: "It's beautiful. There's lilly pads and flowers, and lots of birds, and-"

"I know, I know.." Tarzan interrupted with a chuckle, moving on to get to the heart of the matter: "The chimpanzees used to live there, but Buto ran them off at one point. I helped them banish him, but it looks like he's not willing to let it go... He's a terrible animal. Only looks after himself and what pleases him. I was in a similar situation like you, and I almost got killed... He has no tolerance or respect for anyone, and isn't to be trusted." A short pause would ensue, as both the man and the lion cub were looking over the horizon, and then a thought crossed the ape king's mind: why would Simba look for such a place anyway?

"Though I gotta wonder... Why were you looking for a place like that?" Tarzan asked, looking down at Simba from his chair, until the young lion himself jumped onto Tarzan's chest to explain.

"Well, I wanted to find a nice place to take Sukari out to.." Simba answered, looking sheepishly at Tarzan, because he was quiet about it until now. He could see a grin appearing on the man's face, and his right eyebrow raising up, as he got the hang of the reason he was doing it.

"So, you actually like her now?" the man asked, to which the golden cub nodded, before he continued with his explanation.

"You said it takes more than looking at the surface to know something about someone, and you're right. Sukari and I've been spending some time together, and I've really gotten to know what kind of trouble she's going through. I even helped her get back on her feet with the other cubs, and they all like her now. And I do too. She's pretty, she's caring, funny, smart and a whole lot more fun than everybody thought. Still, I wouldn't call us a couple quite yet, and I think that date can make it happen perfectly." Simba said, with a frank smile on his maw, giving off a slight tinge of eagerness, if not nervousness for what he felt and what he wished to happen.

As much as Tarzan was bitter of Buto, he was fond of Simba, and therefore, he wanted to help him out get this date in the place of his choosing, and to try and banish Buto once and for all, because he was one of the most despised animals in the jungle, with very good reason. He also believed that he could do it with several of his troop members, to at least bid Simba enough time to spend enough quality time with Sukari before Buto should return, if he should return at all. He was glad that Simba listened to what he said about understanding emotions and getting over heartbreak, and he was on a good way to make it so that he finally gets his first love in the most beautiful way.

"Simba, I'm glad you finally figured it out." Tarzan said, as he placed his hand on the youngling's nape, and thus proceeded to announce that he was indeed going to help him out in freeing the pond for the date, noticing that Simba was disheartened by the fact that he might not be able to get his date after all: "I think I can pull some things together for you to take Sukari to that pond..." he winked, as the young cat smiled. He then went to got up, and noticing that movement, Simba slipped off himself: "Come on, let's go find the guys."

 _A few moments later..._

"I said, forget it, Tarzan! I did this once, and I still regret it. Catch ya later!" Terk's screaming was heard, as she was passing through the underbrush beneath the treehouse, refusing to help Simba in this because of the humiliation she had to endure on one occasion in the past: distracting Kerchak from Tarzan as he led Jane and her father to the gorilla troop. So, she did not want to have any part in this. Stubborn and difficult, Terk was not easy to sway, but Tarzan still attempted to persuade her into going for it regardless.

"Oh, come on, Terk! The boy wants to ask the girl out, and-" Tarzan went to say, before he was bluntly interrupted by Terk.

"He needs rhino bait? I'd rather stay alive, thanks." the tomboyish female gorilla responded, going on to mind her own business, until she stopped dead in her tracks after she saw Simba himself stepping up in front of her, with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Please..." Simba said, grinning his teeth widely, trying to make the most irresistible facial expression possible, knowing that Terk might cave while looking upon him with such a desperate glare. The tubby ape kept moving her mouth as if she was aiming to say something, and keeping her eyes shut tightly, showed that she was thinking of changing her mind about the whole situation. Eventually, she caved: "Okay, okay, I'll do it.. But only if somebody else joins in too."

"That was our thinking." Tarzan added, and then noticed two male gorillas dilly-dallying outside as well. They were both of short stature, but one was shorter and thinner than the other. The king of the apes called out to them: "Flynt! Mungo! Come over here for a second!"

The two males made no delays as they came over to the trio with a rather quick pace.

"What'll it be, Tarzan?" Flynt, the smaller one of the two, proceeded to ask out of curiosity.

"I need you guys to help Terk here distract Buto, while Simba has his first date." Tarzan explained.

"That old blowhard?" Mungo asked excitedly, knowing enough about Buto to dislike him by quite a degree. He then cheerfully accepted the offer: "Count me in!"

"Me too!" Flynt added, scratching his itching left arm pit with his right hand.

Terk felt a strong desire to urge them to do their best on this assignment, as she usually felt annoyed by their rather odd and frequent practical jokes: "Now guys, remember that thing about toning it down with the pranks? Forget it. Go nuts here. This bully deserves everything you throw at him."

"Simba, you'd better go invite Sukari out while you can. We'll need four hours to work everything out and distract Buto." Tarzan said to Simba, who was listening intently, until now. However, the cub quickly nodded at the man's words and headed to cross the bridge to get to the Hotan den, to invite Sukari outside, because midday was passing, and the night would fall upon the jungle in a matter of hours, and the master plan had to be put together and executed very soon.

"Okay, guys." Tarzan said, gathering the three in a closed circle, turning talk into whispering as he first addressed Flynt and Mungo: "For the pranks, try to use anything you can find out there. Fruits, rocks, vegetables, whatever. Just make sure that Buto doesn't get to the pond." As the two males nodded to Tarzan's explanation, the man's attention turned to Terk: "And Terk, you won't have to put that dress on for this, just make sure that Buto stays on you. On no account should you allow him to get too close to the pond, or he'll attack the cubs."

"Can we use bees?" Flynt suggested, with a somewhat naughty snicker, but this earned an elbow nudge from Terk, who countered:  
"Flynt, you're talking about a rhino. Bees and mosquitoes can't do anything to his skin. It's too thick."

It wouldn't be long before Timon and Pumbaa, who were scowering the nearby logs for more insects and larvae, managed to hear the whispering that came from nearby. Timon was the first to pick up on these sounds, as Pumbaa was busy gorging on a large source of grubs. The meerkat then jumped on the warthog's bristly mane and yanked his ears to get his attention.

"Uh? What is it?" Pumbaa said, as he stopped chewing, so that he could hear the muffled talking clearly, which immediately aroused his curiosity. Looking up, he asked Timon: "Well, what are they on about?"

"Come on, let's go see." Timon suggested quietly, as the hog started to totter over to the gorillas, and Tarzan who stood with them. Timon announced their arrival to the scene by asking a question: "What's going on here?"

"Uh, Timon, Pumbaa, come over here." Tarzan motioned them to join the apes. After exchanging glances, the carefree duo made their way to the circle to get some knowledge of what was going on between them. Tarzan then addressed them: "I need you two to create a distraction from Buto the rhino, because he wants to take a girl on a date at the chimp pond, but it seems that he's back there again, so you shouldn't let him catch the cubs there. Can you help him?"

"Well, I don't see why we wouldn't, Timon." Pumbaa said to the now pensive meerkat, who was rather alarmed to know that he and his friend were going to be placed in mortal danger. The brown-striped meerkat said: "That hornhead's gonna thwack us! What help can we be to put him off?"

"What if Tantor was on our side?" Pumbaa said with a wide smile on his face, thinking it's a wise idea: even if things were to go awry, the only animal large enough to protect the group from an angry rhinoceros was an elephant.

"What?! He's gonna see him before he-" he cut himself short, before he realized this was in fact an intelligent idea, and, by his very nature, he was tempted to take credit for it: "Hey... What if Tantor could help? Ha! He'd give that old windbag a clobbering he'll never forget, even if the plan does go down the drain. Who's the brains in this outfit?"

"Uh-no! That's enough, Timon! This was my idea." Pumbaa commented, finally seeing through Timon's behavior, because it was far from the first time that Timon claimed Pumbaa's clever ideas as his own, only this time Pumbaa didn't let it slip, and stood his ground to defend his identity.

"Eh, whatever." Timon said, ignoring his friend by waving his right hand aside, a bit to the hog's displeasure: Pumbaa knew that Timon refused to admit when he was wrong and he rolled along with it throughout their friendship. Then, the meerkat went on to ask who else was providing a distraction: "So, who else is in the distraction team?"

"Terk is." Tarzan replied: "Flynt and Mungo will play pranks and booby traps on him while you lure him away from the pond."

Timon then lay a finger on his chin and thought about what he could do to help in this cause. His first and only idea thus far was to use dance and song to lure the rhino on by hearing rather than sight, because rhinos have keener ears than noses, and therefore, Buto would be unable to resist the call. However, Timon had a rather unique idea to do this: he would dress into a special outfit and do a type of war chant song to lure out the enemy. The small bug-eater spoke up at last: "How about Terk, Pumbaa and I dress in drag and do the Hula?"

"The what?" Terk asked, confusedly and mistrustfully.

 _Some hours later, during sunset..._

"I'll never forget doing this..." Terk said, with a very angry expression on her face, while looking around the oasis that Buto unjustly calls home, hoping to distract the rhinoceros from Simba. She was wearing a drag made of palm leaves, with a wreath of flowers on her head, and around her neck, as well as two coconuts on her breast.

"That's the spirit, Terk. Now, we have to see if that beady-eyed screwball's gonna hear us right..." Timon said, also spying around, wondering how loud they'll have to be to attract the big grey lout. He was dressed in a similar outfit, minus the coconut bra.

"I dunno, but that drag looks really good on you, Terk." Pumbaa added, trying to lighten the girl's mood.

"Well, it's better than that old dress, for one." Terk replied, with a smile: "Feels a bit more natural, you know?"

In a short while, Timon coughed, and in a matter of seconds, started to dance and sing: "Hula! He has an appeal that drives everyone nuts!"

Terk jumped in as well: "Buto's his name, and he thinks terror's his game!"

"He's brawn over brains, but he ain't got the guts!" Timon filled in.

"To come and play our game, because he's just too lame!" Terk continued.

Pumbaa also jumped in as soon as Terk finished: "Yup, yup, yup!"

Timon sang from highly: "Faaaaaaaar from snugly!"

Pumbaa came in once more: "Yup, yup, yup!"

Terk continued Timon's lines of attack: "Faaaaaaat and ugly!"

Pumbaa filled in for the last time: "Yup, yup!"

In unison, the meerkat and the gorilla finished the song: "It surely sucks to be Buto-oh!" they finished...

Not before long, a loud, aggressive grunt was heard from the foliage, coupled with the low thuds that sounded in a galloping gait, which was a clear sign that Buto was very close by, and that he was about to strike any time. The three jolted, as they screamed in panic, and the great horned behemoth crashed through the foliage, hot on their trail. As the three ran, they saw a fairly thin vine lying down on the jungle floor. Knowing that this was the first trap in Flynt and Mungo's course, Terk and Pumbaa, who carried Timon on his back, jumped over it, and Timon then threw one of the same poison fruits he used against the baboons some few months ago towards Buto's face just before he reached the trip vine. As it smashed against the ungulate's nostrils, the animal started coughing and tripping, and the two hidden gorillas tightened the vine, and the rhino tripped on it, skidding forward and eventually ramming head-first into a large rock ahead of him.

" **You crazy lil' fools 're gonna wish you hadn't been born, ya hear!** " the thick-skinned lout yelled, before he started getting pelted with various fruit, coming from the trees.

"Aw, don't go bananas, mr. Rhino!" Flynt's voice was heard as he managed to successfully stick a banana or two into his large nostrils, hanging from a tree branch which he managed to climb due to his gracile build and short stature.

"Get some nuts!" Mungo said, as he hurled some fairly large coconuts toward his face, some of which ended up sticking onto his front horn, while the others came in throwing mangoes, which also ended up on the horn. The rhinoceros, flushing red with rage, with his head trembling, his teeth clenched and gritting, could smell Terk and Pumbaa once more, heading opposite of him, as fruit juice poured over his brow. The grey brute darted towards them, boiling with anger, wishing to end the misery that these characters got themselves into, in his eyes. Much to his dismay, what happened before was not even the beginning of what Buto was going to face: his side-facing, poor eyes couldn't make out the next trap: it was a small log strapped with vines, with a coconut jabbed into its trunk, acting as a sort of battering ram, which struck him vigorously in the snout. Not long afterwards, the rhinoceros shook his head from the pain, not noticing the banana skins laid out on the floor by Flynt and Mungo, as they were in the trees, eating some more. Helplessly, the rhino skidded forward and into a large, deep mud bog. By the time he stopped, his entire face was submerged, and only the tip of the front horn was sticking out. As he rose out of the gloop, he thrashed his head around vigorously to shake it off, and then began a fairly long crawl out, to try and teach the attackers a lesson they would never forget: " **Now, you come back here! I ain't done nothin' to deserve this kinda torture! It's not my fault you're all invadin'! You think you're causin' me pain! You're gonna know pain when I get to ya! Ya hear!** "

And so, the jibber-jabber, as well as the chase, went on and on...

* * *

 _ **Flynt and Mungo are from the Disney Tarzan film: they first appear when Terk gives Tarzan the elephant hair dare, and therefore, they are at the very least film canon. Enjoy!**_


	12. Cruising The Waters Of Love

_Meanwhile, at the pond itself..._

Tantor, the great red elephant, was approaching the pond to inspect it before doing what he was told to do: go into the water and hide in there, so that he could help Simba create a lasting effect on Sukari with a cruise across the water. Though the pachyderm was loyal, he was also paranoid, afraid of even the slightest flaw in something, because it could cause damage to him. In this case, he wanted to make sure that the water is pure before he entered it. Even worse was the fact that he was running out of time for testing. The sun was setting, the sky was red, and the first stars soon started to glisten in the sky above: it wouldn't be long before Simba led Sukari here.

"Oh.. I hope this water's alright." Tantor mumbled for himself, touching it with his trunk to make sure it was pure. After seeing that there was no conferva or any other kind of filth, he was relieved, and he made the move ahead to dip himself into the pond. The water was cool, bright blue and purer than anything he has seen before. As he entered the water a little less than throat-deep, he heaved a sigh of relief and relaxation, and mumbled for himself: "Talk about sanitary..."

While they were strolling through the rainforest, Simba and Sukari were making their way to the pond, with the boy being sure that it was free from the cluthes of Buto, the cantankerous rhinoceros, who was indeed being distracted by his peers. As he looked at his potential girlfriend, he could see that she couldn't be any happier to be with him now. In her eyes, the once prince of the Pride Lands saw the reflection of the fading sunlight, which glistened red, which aroused his attention, and brought back to his memory of what Tarzan was telling him about how to behave when trying to win a girl's heart over, and what to avoid at that. He really felt like complimenting something about her that he liked, and in this very moment, he was most fond of her eyes.

 _"Don't be afraid to tell her nice things. If you like the look in her eyes, or the color of her coat, or if you just think she looks beautiful, go ahead and tell her. She'll be in for it."_ Tarzan's voice echoed in Simba's memory as he held his head firmly: it urged him to act more quickly, with little thought. And so, he raised his head to meet Sukari's eyes once more, preparing to give her a heartfelt, unforced compliment about her appearance right now. With a naive smile, he said unto her: "You have beautiful eyes..."

At first, Sukari, who was to Simba's left, twitched her right ear upon this sudden notion. Never before has she heard any male of her age say anything like this, and with such sincerity, and since she was confused, the ocker lioness cub lowered her head shyly, with a fond smile crossing her maw. However, she surprisingly quickly summoned up the courage to look back at Simba and thank him for such a kind word: "Thanks."

Simba's attention was soon diverted to the sound of a chameleon climbing onto a tree branch just ahead of them, and it was a slight reminder for him to alleviate the tension he just created with a remark on it, as it reminded him of Sukari's pet chameleon when it ate a rather large fly: "Oh, look."

"What?" Sukari said, turning her head to Simba's direction of sight just before noticing the hunting in action.

"I think I've seen your pet chameleon do that with even bigger bugs." the golden cub said.

"Oh, really?" Sukari asked, and then started explaining: "He usually doesn't, but I guess I can't see everything he does, now can I?" she giggled.

However, this speech was not unheard by Tantor, who sensed that the cubs were getting closer and closer to the pond, and it was of no use to stay underneath the surface, because he had to remain hidden until a certain time. His role was in fact to help Simba impress Sukari by allowing the two to have a cruise across the pond on his back, so that they can have a truly exceptional date, with more than just a stroll. Frightened by the sudden sound of the cubs' voices, the elephant submerged himself completely, but not without taking a scope around with his trunk, to make sure where the two would come from. That analyzed and finished, he submerged his trunk and prepared to hold his breath for a long time.

Simba knew that he had to make an impact with showing Sukari the dating place, so, as they neared it, he prepared to make it a surprise for her. He stopped dead in his tracks, and addressed the young girl: "Okay, Sukari, I'd like you to close your eyes now."

Suspecting that there's something to stay hidden, the tufted lioness cub raised her right eyebrow and smiled naughtily, expecting an explanation. The golden cub quickly spoke again: "It's a surprise." he winked.

"Alright.." she said, shutting her eyes tightly, and waiting for whatever was to come ahead. Deep down, she had a feeling that it was a sort of present, but she really tried not to have any expectations for this. Simba brushed aside a single fern that was blocking the view to the pond, so that he could do one more thing before he unveiled it. However, he was interrupted by Sukari: "Can I open now?"

"Not yet, just walk forward." Simba said to her. As she was told, the ocker girl moved ahead, eyes firmly shut, and already feeling that she was in the opening. After that, the golden boy finally gave her permission to look: "Okay, go for it!"

Sukari's eyes flew open, and only to be struck by a sight that immediately captivated her imagination: since the Sun had all but fully set, the bioluminescent mushrooms that grew there shone with various colors, and the songbirds were most active in these hours. The lioness cub's jaw dropped in awe.

"Isn't it great?" Simba asked, as he sat next to her, only to see Sukari shaking her head.

"Nope." the girl cub said, and then leaned over and licked Simba on the cheek: "It's _wonderful_..."

As Simba received this gesture of affection, he could feel his face turning warm and his eyes opening widely. His mouth transformed from a squeezed, confused expression, to a smile, as he eventually heaved a relaxing sigh. Not before long, the two younglings continued to walk along the bank of the pond, looking into the water, and seeing that there were small things in there that were glowing and moving about. Little did they know that these were freshwater jellyfish, and that they were rather common in the rivers and lakes of the jungle. Simba was just as bewildered as Sukari to look upon this, because he did not come to this place during the night, and therefore could not foresee that it would look this magical. The sun had finally set, and night beset the jungle. Fireflies started to awaken, the mushrooms glew ever more strongly, and the moon started to show its face, followed by an endless escort of stars, that started to show each other one by one. By the time the two sat down once more, the brownish-gold cub spoke up: "I didn't know that it was like this at night..."

"What? You found it." Sukari said confusedly, sitting next to him, first at a distance. But then, she inched a little closer to him to truly feel this moment with all her heart, because it was something new in the best way she could imagine.

"Yeah, but I didn't come around at night time." Simba responded, holding his head a little low.

"Why not?" Sukari asked him, noticing that he was acting a little strangely.

"Well..." Simba tried to come up with an excuse to cover up the fact that a dangerous rhinoceros lives here and that he hired his friends to drive him away, because he believed in them and he knew that they could keep him at bay for the time the date lasted. Eventually, he came up with a charming response: "I guess I didn't want to spoil the surprise for myself either. It looked beautiful enough during the day."

Sukari then leaned her head onto Simba's shoulder and gazed down, into the water: "Ever wondered what those tiny thingies are down there, swimming around?", she asked.

"No, but there's quite a lot of them." Simba said, not knowing the name of jellyfish, but only knowing rumors that he heard from his days in the Pride Lands, and his time here: "I always heard that they have more than ten legs, and that they sting you if you come too close."

Eventually, Tantor started to run short of breath, as he had stayed submerged for longer than his lung capacity could bare. Tantor, like all elephants, was a good swimmer, but he could not hold his breath underwater for a very long time, and it was about time that he surfaced, because he could not risk his life for a mere date. Soon, the two cubs' eyes were met with the sight of a long, hose-like structure bursting from the water with a gasping sound, and both were surprised to see it. Both of them suspected that this was an elephant, judging by the looks of it.

"What is that?" Sukari asked, when she saw Simba descending to the water's edge to take a look at it. What seemed like the muzzle of it was directed straight at the golden cub, as if it was examining him. He looked on curiously, as the trunk began to rise up, revealing who it was: none other than Tantor.

"Tantor?" Simba asked in shock: "What are you doing here?"

"Me? Uh.." Tantor started, trying to explain nervously, as he removed a lily pad from his head: "I was just looking at these jellyfish, and uh-... who's that?", he asked curiously, noticing that Sukari was approaching Simba to inspect the elephant.

"Oh, this is Sukari." Simba replied to the pachyderm, and then turned to Sukari herself: "Sukari, meet Tantor."

"Hello." Sukari said, looking at the smiling pachyderm shyly.

"So, you're one of Simba's friends, then?" Tantor replied: "Well, if I'm a bother, I'll just let you go on with your little walk... or, if you want to get a better view of the pond, I could lend a trunk.", he concluded, offering his assistance in leaving a good impression. Judging by the cub's expression, he knew that he was fond of the idea, and that he wanted to give it a try.

"Um... you wouldn't wanna go for a cruise, would you?" Simba asked, looking suavely at the ocker girl, who seemed indecisive.

"Well, I don't know. Is it safe?" she asked out of worry.

"Well, sure. You can trust Tantor. And me." Simba replied, after winking and leaping onto Tantor's head, and then climbing onto his back, waiting for Sukari to respond. Eventually, the lioness cub smiled and walked ahead, and was lifted high by Tantor's trunk, that placed it conveniently on his back, next to Simba.

"Alright, then: we're off!" Tantor announced, starting to swim across the vast surface of the pond, which was not dull by any means. He moved slowly across the water, to give the young cubs enough time to see everything. Songbirds were still awake, high in the trees, chirping a peaceful melody that soothed the ears, and made the jungle animals relax, some of them getting ready to sleep. As they glided across the water, Simba and Sukari could see fireflies moving around them, blinking brightly in the still of the night. One of them landed on Simba's nose unknown to him, and when it blinked, the golden cub jerked his head, as he was startled by the insect's sudden appearance; this immediately made Sukari giggle, until she saw that a fairly large school of jellyfish swimming beside them, and were very close to Tantor's body.

"Come on, Simba! Look at this...", she nudged the golden buy to come with her to inspect this, as it was a perfect chance to see the little creatures up close. The two peered down into the water, and noticed dozens of glowing, transparent blobs of living matter swimming through the water in a flawless unison, which was irresistible to watch for Simba; and contrary to what he said before, they did not sting the elephant at all, even though he watched them with slight paranoia, as always was his mood. Sukari took note of this, and wanted to play a prank of her own. She dunked Simba's muzzle into the water suddenly, which startled him, but didn't anger him at all. Simba then moved away from her, towards Tantor, as if he was completely ignoring Sukari, and said to him through whisper: "Tantor, could you get me to that flower over there?" Tantor reached across the water, allowing Simba to climb over his trunk, as Sukari looked on, somewhat let down by this apparent lack of attention for her. When the golden cub saw the flower, namely an orchid, he elegantly bit it off the ground, with the pedicle attached to it. He climbed back onto Tantor's back and gently pulled the flower through the small patch of fuzz on Sukari's head, where it fit quite firmly, with the flower itself hanging toward her right ear. This immediately prompted the lioness cub to look into her reflection to see how it fit her. And it was flawless. Everything that Simba did now was impeccable, and she knew that he was just right for her now. As she smiled gleefully, her reflection was soon joined by Simba's, who sat next to her.

"You like it?" the golden cub asked, to which he earned a nod in response.

 _Thirty minutes later..._

Simba and Sukari were lying snuggled together on their backs, already feeling differently than the moment they came here. And so, a thought crossed Simba's mind as he looked to the sky, lost in it. He saw that there was nothing more to being in love than what they did as friends: they helped each other, they cared for their problems, shared stories of both whimsical and serious content, just on a whole different level. But it was different from the infatuation that he had with Nyota: then, he viewed both her and Sukari through his own fabricated thoughts, that were like a tainted lens that blurred out his grasp of reality, and numbed his senses in a natural, but harmful way. This time, he truly knew who Sukari was, her strengths and weaknesses, her virtues and flaws, but he did not cherrypick what to like about her, and what not to. He was fond of all that was Sukari: he embraced her flaws because they were part of the unique person that was she. This realization was precious to him. It showed him a new world, one where where personal desires and standards were set aside in favor of complete insight of what made a lioness what she is.

Sukari herself only needed this one portent to be sure that Simba was right for her in every way he behaved towards her. His former signs of powerlessness in favor of a lioness who did not like him were replaced by briming confidence and outstanding courage, as well as a will not to cave in to irrational demands from others, as well as valuing his own time; he has changed from a self-centered, careless dope into someone she could call her protector, someone who could sacrifice some of his time to help someone in need, to turn other lions' lives in the right direction, who was generous with his love and kindness, but not too wasteful (again, because he valued his time); his coldness melted into fiery charm and knowledge of how a lioness is to be treated, and how her attention can be aroused easily. He genuinely cared for her because of who she was, and what once was an unrequited palette of tears was now requited love, sincere and warm. As she looked up at the starry sky, she could see that some stars were forming certain shapes that resembled creatures or things that she has seen before. She couldn't help motioning Simba to see it himself: "See that over there, Simba? It looks like my tortoise..."

"Yeah..." Simba mumbled, as he took note of this. In his eyes, the shell and head were a little more rounded than in Sukari's pet tortoise, but the basic shape was mostly there. He then noticed some other constellation in the sky that looked very much like an elephant, and he felt compelled to also take note of that: "Oh, and look at that. Just like Tantor." Upon hearing these words, the pachyderm looked into the sky, scanning it for a constellation that looked like him. Sadly, he was unable to spot it, because it was too far behind his head, and he was in a relaxed, stagnant pose. As he lowered his head back down, he heaved a sigh of displeasure.

"Are you.. happy here, with me?" the lioness cub went to ask Simba, who immediately turned his head and gaze to meet hers, because he couldn't say a bigger yes to her question. In place of words, he chose his actions to speak for himself. He leaned his head over to her and licked her on the cheek, then pressed himself closer to her. The two snuggled tightly together and purred gently, as the golden cub wrapped his left paw around Sukari. However, another worrying thought crossed Sukari's mind and her eyes reopened rather quickly: "Isn't it getting late?"

"Huh?" Simba looked into the sky, judging by the shape of the moon that it has gotten later than the time the cubs were to return home at the latest: "Well, I'll be sleeping over at Tarzan's place, so I'll walk you home." he then got up and spoke to the red elephant: "Tantor, can you help us get to the bank?"

"Oh, sure." Tantor replied, as he swam towards the water's edge, and extended his trunk to the jungle floor. Simba and Sukari made no delays in jumping off the elephant's back, so that he could follow the ocker lioness cub home before heading to the treehouse with Tantor. But he still wanted to be sure that he has sealed the bond that he seemed to have created with her. He glared at her: "Sukari, I wanted to tell you something."

This immediately earned her attention, as the boy stammered, trying to ask her to be his partner: "I, um..." However, he was cut short by a series of alarming screams that echoed through the jungle, and eventually, they saw who was making the noise.

Through the undergrowth tumbled several shaggy form with long arms and high lumps on their heads, which Simba could swiftly identify as Terk, Flynt and Mungo, and shortly before them came Pumbaa, who slammed muzzle first into a small tree fern, and the impact catapulted Timon, who was on his back, into the water. Looking at this, Simba feared the worst is about to happen, because this meant that the distraction the five have been providing failed, as they made for the pond. This only meant that it was only a matter of time before Buto the rhinoceros showed up in all his wrath and might...


	13. The Tantornator - Requited

"Uh-oh..." Simba said to himself, starting to grow overwhelmed with fear, because he knew what was coming for him. Sukari did not, and therefore, she was confused by Simba's expression of alarm.

"What's wrong?" the ocker cub asked, only to receive her answer very shortly.

Crashing through the trees, with a ferocious roar, came none other than the belligerent black rhinoceros Buto, filthy and stained from the fruit pelting and the tedious crawl out of the mud pit. Flushing red with rage, he cried out to the gang of distraction artists: " **You're making me mad, suckers!** "

Sukari gasped in fright as this happened, hiding behind Simba. They were both numb with fear, Sukari much more so, because she didn't expect to see a giant herbivore to live so close to their dating spot. Tantor was also scared, as were the group that distracted the ungulate, but not for themselves, but for the two defenseless lion cubs. The ocker cub even started to cry out of terror, speaking between sobs: "Oh, Simba..."

Buto could immediately hear the sobbing that came from his right: he turned his head and saw the two cubs, one that he saw earlier that day poking around his territory, and one that he knew was crying. But there was no room for remorse in the cold heart of the thick-skinned brute, or any second thoughts about disposing of them in his crazed mind, because all that he had in it was the terrible need to keep everyone who would even step foot into what he claimed to be his territory at bay, or kill them. With an angry look, he approached the two, with a threatening tone more vitriolic than anything Nuru or Sheeta have said: "Well, well, if it ain't that underage fool who was poking around my hood? Haven't I taught you a lesson already? You made me mad, and you know what happens when someone makes me mad? You won't be able to get back home to yo mamas and tell 'em that Big B stomped ya out good.." As he neared Simba, he aimed the tip of his front horn toward his face, which made his eyes widen in horror, and stole his breath.

As Tantor beheld the cubs about to suffer from Buto's wrath and their helpless stances, he could stay still no more. In his mind, there was nothing more vile for an animal of the jungle to do than something like this: humiliate, torture and take advantage of others, especially young animals. His initial scared expression turned into one of displeasure, bitterness and outright anger, as he began to climb his way out of the pond to finally put an end to Buto's terror for good: not to glorify himself, but to save his friends and do the rainforest a glad service. With a now empowered stance, he confronted the black rhinoceros: "Now, just **who do you think you are** , threatening cubs like that?! I'd rather lay my life down before doing that to any kid!" Everyone turned their heads to this sudden display of courage that came from an elephant that was normally in a paranoid and cowardly state of mind, but they were not worried that Tantor would defeat Buto in battle, because of his size, and so, they watched it with hopeful smiles on their faces.

The rhino, on the other hand, was deeply angered, as always, to be challenged by anyone, and he never took kindly to anything that he perceived as an insult, or a threat. He then barked back at the elephant in an aggressive, vile tone: " **...You wanna run that by my ears again, fat boy?!** "

"Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, **Big Bozo!** " Tantor called him out, as he intrepidly faced him, ready for anything that was to come, even waiting for the lesser giant to lose his cool and attack him, because he was utterly sure that he was no match for the elephant and the physical power that he had. The great pachyderm continued his verbal assault: "Pinheads like you, who don't have respect for anybody but themselves, don't deserve any for themselves at all! Now you sure feel good, don't you? Picking on two little cubs, like they're trouble, huh? You want trouble?! Then bring it on..." This was a definitive challenge to battle, and everyone eyed the scene, waiting for the battle to finally happen, because they, like all other animals that have heard even the slightest news of Buto, know enough to wish him a well-earned defeat.

It did not take long before the rhinoceros prepared himself, pawing the soil with his front feet and growling angrily, before unleashing a charge directly for a readied Tantor, in full speed. Tantor also charged forward, but timed his attack well: as the rhinoceros attempted to reach the elephant's neck with his horn by slightly launching himself into the air upon reaching him, but Tantor was prepared: he dodged out of the way, and then moved sideways to ram the ungulate with his superior bulk, knocking him to the ground, a meter or two away from him. This first move made the cubs look away in horror from the sight of a battle. The rhinoceros was quick to recuperate, and trotted forward, making an upward thrusting motion when he approached the elephant, trying once again to even remotely injure him with his front horn. After making an overswing, he was grabbed by that horn by Tantor's trunk, and even though he tried to shake off, it was futile: the pachyderm then started spinning around and after making a full circle, flailed him away, which slammed him against a rock. After doing this, he moved in front of a large tree with crumbling bark, which showed that it was rotting away, and it stood very close to the river bank as well. He was turned away from Buto, as if he had no idea he was still preparing for an enraged charge. But an elephant's ear is much keener than his sight, and as he heard the thudding gallop, stepped aside just in time before he could even touch him. The ungulate rammed the tree head-first, and his head had pierced the trunk, appearing on the other side: he was stuck and could not move, because his front legs were jammed in the trunk, and even though he struggled, there was nothing he could do about this, because even though the tree was old, it was still firm enough not to allow him to get out so easily.

" **Urgh! This ain't the last of it, hose-nose! Not even this tree's gonna stop ya from the pain that's comin' for ya! You're gonna pity yourself big time, sucker!** " Buto shouted, but to no avail, as he heard behind him a distinct elephant trumpet, and the thudding sound of Tantor's massive feet charging towards him, bent on getting rid of him once and for all.

"It's the end of your rule, cause you're goin' swimming, fool!" Tantor yelled out, and it wasn't long before his head slammed directly into the tree, uprooting it and sending it falling into the river, taking Buto with it downstream, into the southern savannas, never to return to the jungle again, even though the rhino still uttered belligerent insults and empty threats.

Much to their shock and gladness, the rest saw that their pachyderm friend has not only saved the day, but rid the jungle of one of its most vicious inhabitants, responsible for dozens of innocent deaths and stealing ones homes more than once. In a couple of seconds, the ape group was the first to start whooping and cheering with joy, not just because he defeated an old enemy of theirs, but also because he stood up in confidence to defend those he held dear from danger.

"Yeah!" Simba's optimistic voice was heard, while Sukari calmly smiled at the returning pachyderm, shy to talk due to not knowing the rest of Simba's friends.

"You're an animal!" Terk added, chuckling afterwards.

"Way to go, Tantornator!" Flynt called out, raising his fist into the air.

Not before long, they all gathered around the pachyderm to celebrate his victory. They were touching him in a friendly way, throwing out all sorts of compliments and even joking on both Tantor's and Buto's account.

"You sure showed him how to mess with you, didn't you, Tantor?" Mungo asked, as he stood directly in front of him. This made the pachyderm look down upon the smaller gorilla, and shrug with a smile on his face.

"That sure looked like one tough fight!" Pumbaa took a turn to address the pachyderm as well.

"Oh, but it was easy." Tantor replied nonchallantly, as he looked at his trunk and tusks, and noticed that they were all unscathed, which means that he fared better than anyone else could imagine.

"Never thought I'd see that old windbag get nailed..." Timon added, looking to the river where the exile had come to pass, while stroking his nape. He soon noticed that Simba was heading towards him with a look in his eyes that told Timon that he needed to talk to someone, namely him.

It wasn't long before the golden youngster stopped in front of the meerkat and uttered a question for Sukari's well-being: "I gotta take Sukari home. Can you help me?"

"Oh.." Timon said to himself as he looked over Simba's shoulder, noticing that Sukari was rather far behind him, and looking towards them. It soon made him consider the possibilities, but when it came to something Simba needed, Timon was not the type to say no it at any time. Therefore, he adressed the elephant first: "Hey, champ! Could you help Simba take the girl home? It is kinda late anyway."

"Well, what about you guys?" Tantor asked, immediately thinking about his companions.

"Oh, we'll just hang around here and wait for you to come back." Timon stated relaxedly, looking back at Simba with a smile, as this act made his wish fulfilled.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Simba asked Tantor, looking behind to see that Sukari was slowly approaching him.

 _Five minutes later..._

It wasn't very long until Tantor helped the two cubs get across the river, so that Simba could accompany his new partner to the den, because he had already decided to sleep over at the treehouse. They shared a few more sweet words of affection until they finally reached the door of the den. The ocker girl was a little frightened from all that's come to pass, but it didn't make her think any less of Simba, because he explained everything about how everything that happened after their date was planned. Even though she was slightly displeased, she knew why Simba did those things, and she calmly accepted it, moving on with what she started. All in all, tonight was a night worthy of remembrance. A night full of beauty, sweet moments and a no smaller amount of adventuring. Still, it was time to say goodbye, and both of the two cubs knew that they could hardly wait to see each other again. Before they parted ways, they exchanged twitterpated glances.

"Good night... sweetheart." Sukari said, her eyes aimed straight at Simba, who looked back at her just as fixedly, with no distractions from anything around him.

"Sweet dreams, beautiful.", he said, almost through whisper, as he glared on at the ocker lioness cub's blue eyes. Little did they know that they were leaning more and more towards one another, closer, and closer... until their eyes shut and their muzzles joined into a most heart-warming and gentle nuzzle, to seal the bond that they created and to know for sure that they were now a loving couple; that Simba was now Sukari's first boyfriend. After a few seconds, Sukari first moved away from the golden boy by stepping backwards, then turning around and heading to the den. As she approached the entrance, she turned her head around for one last time, to see Simba looking in her direction with a warm smile.

When the lioness cub finally left sight, Simba's smile widened into an ecstatic grin, and it wasn't too long before he leaped into the air and whispered: "Yes!", before trotting back to the shore to meet Tantor again. He has shown incredible loyalty to the cub in coming here specifically to help him on this, and he's certainly proven his worth in courageously fighting off Buto. Therefore, he deserves the heartfelt gratitude of the former prince of the Pride Lands.

Tantor himself was standing on the river bank when Simba came back to him, looking up at him with a toothy grin on his face. The elephant looked on, first with confusion, then with a smile. He then addressed him: "So, I believe everything went as smooth as Tarzan's skin?" But before Simba said anything, he tightly embraced Tantor's trunk in his paws, even rubbing his face against it, which immediately made the red pachyderm more gentle, as he smiled with heartfelt liking for the young lion cub, who was, in his eyes, a fine little creature in all aspects of his behavior.

"Thanks so much, Tantor..." Simba said gently, while the elephant raised him to his line of sight, looking at him gently.

"Aw. You know what? I'm getting real fond of you, kid... Besides, you handled that girl like an alpha." Tantor finally spoke up, then moving the cub to his back, while wading back into the water of the river, to pick up everyone else for the journey back to the treehouse.

"I really did?" Simba asked him curiously, willing to know what his giant companion thought about all this.

"Sure. A lot better than I ever could, when I was a calf." Tantor explained, then moved on to explain how it all went: "When it came to me and girls, I was so afraid. I was afraid about everything. How clean the water was, what I ate, how I talked, where I stepped... But when I met Tarzan and Terk, I learned that I have something I didn't know I had."

"And what's that?" Simba asked, as wading already turned to swimming, and Tantor was around midway of crossing the whole body of water.

"My bravery." Tantor responded, and then saw that he's slightly swam off too far to the left, due to shifting too much of his focus into conversing with Simba. The thick-skinned giant immediately jerked himself and regained focus: "Oops, wrong way, he he.", he chuckled, as he swam slightly to the right, against the pull of the current. Soon enough, they arrived at the same spot where they left Terk, Flynt and Mungo, with Timon and Pumbaa. As Tantor emerged from the water, they came to see Simba first of all, to acquire knowledge of how everything came together, and whether or not Sukari was definitely his first girlfriend.

"Simba, come over here!" Terk asked first, eager to talk to the little one first. He slid down the pachyderm's dexterous trunk, and landed right before the bang-haired gorilla, who was still dressed in her Hula outfit. She crouched over to young Simba, and asked ahead: "So... how'd it go?"

"I guess you can call us a couple." Simba said, with a wide, childishly gleeful grin that lit up his face.

"Ooo..." the three apes sounded off in unison, looking straight at the golden cub, before they started clapping their hands together, but suddenly, the cub started hugging every one of them one by one, because they too have earned his gratitude and respect, especially because they risked their own lives to help the cub accomplish his goal. Not before long, he did the same to Timon and Pumbaa.

"Thanks a lot for your help, guys! It was awesome." Simba said to everyone.

As they crossed over the river, Simba listened to the other side of the story: what was going on while Simba was spending a lovely night with Sukari. He found out that they went to a great deal of trouble to keep a gigantic black rhinoceros at bay. As they thoroughly described the Hula dancing, how they fled panickedly across the jungle, and how they attacked him with everything that was at their disposal, Simba was in stitches for the entire time they were swimming along the river as they made their return home.

"Well, we weren't really in it from the start, kid." Timon said, explaining that he and Pumbaa got into the skit later on.

"Really?" the cub asked cluelessly.

"Nope." Pumbaa affirmed, then proceeded from where Timon stopped: "We just overheard Tarzan talking with the apes, and he actually called us over to join in."

"And this disguise thing sure wasn't my idea." Terk said charmingly, as she stroked Simba on the back with her hand. The cub chuckled in response to her, knowing that Timon was the one who favored the hula most of all.

"Well, it looks really good on you." he spoke, making her feel awkward that so many of her peers told her that her Hula drag looked fine on her, whereas she was more or less the only one that was displeased by its appearance.

After the crossing, they continued the remaining 30 minutes of the journey on foot, and as the group finished their debrief of the distraction, it was time to hear Simba's side of the story, to hear how everything really turned out between Simba and his new girlfriend. Simba was detailed enough to reveal what was important, but he didn't truly reveal everything that had happened, and all that he said to her, because he, like most others that were his age, was very secretive about such matters.  
Even so, the group realized that Simba has improved his very young love life the right way, and that he has done most things right in order to win her over. In fact, he's done things that all the males who had solid dating experience considered to be very witty, and that he quickly mastered it.

"So, what happened when you took her home?" Pumbaa asked curiously, looking to the golden cub who stood to his left.

"We wished each other goodnight, and..." the youngster stammered, deliberately as to make tension.

"And?" Flynt asked, growing more eager to know what happened, like everyone else.

"And we nuzzled." Simba said, with a sly grin on his face.

"Wow, you're an ace, Simba." Mungo added whimsically, chuckling at the whole story, before noticing that they've reached the bridge, where Taug usually kept watch during the nights. On this occasion, he was leaning against a nearby tree and looking around drowsily, which meant that he's been standing guard for quite a while, and was growing a little sleepy. Terk didn't take note of this, so she went on to call him out by name, as usual.

"Taug!" the tomboyish female ape hollered, and the large, obese male shook his head around rapidly, coming to his senses.

"Huh? Oh, Terk it's you." Taug said, recognizing her by voice, and then rubbing his eyes to take a good look at her.

"Why don't you take a break? You're done to sleep already." the she-ape suggested to her friend, who was clearly growing a little tired, since he clearly stood watch quite a bit longer than his regular shifts. Terk would then address Tantor: "You know what that means, don't you, Tantor?"

"Yeah..." Tantor said, in a bit of a downed mood, but always willing to set his needs aside to help another. In the end, that would not be a problem to him, because Taug was of a similar nature, a gentle giant who compassionately lent his own time to others.

"Night, Tantor!" Simba said to him, as he prepared to cross the bridge to meet Tarzan first, to tell him how everything went down, if he was still awake, that is. However, he did not intend to immediately tell him what actually happened: he was more intent on feigning failure to him for the sake of playing a joke.

Luckily, he was awake, and outside of the house, with Jane sitting beside him under the canopy, as they were gazing at the stars and talking to one another. From a distance, the cub couldn't make out what exactly it was, but he assumed that it was something that had to do with their romance, since the golden cub knew that they were a couple. He was glad that he wasn't the only one in the narrow circle of creatures he called friends that had a romantic relationship, because love is something to be cherished, not envied or resented, and those who did so were too sour to admit it, and showed great weakness in doing so.

When Simba reached the bridge's end, it was time for the act to commence. Noticing that the two humans have noticed him on the bridge already, he hung his head low and feigned sadness, as he climbed up the stairway. Inevitably, Tarzan took note of this, as he was walking towards him and Jane, and was at first sold on the joke due to the dark preventing him from studying the cub's face more thoroughly. He approached with concern, and asked: "How did it go? You don't look very happy."

"Why should I be happy? She said no." Simba said, wisely imitating a weeping tone with his voice, as he sat next to him, looking down to conceal his face as much as possible. He even shut his eyes and started to sob. Tarzan leaned in to wipe off the tears he thought were coming from his eyes, but much to his shock, as he stroked his face, his hands were bone-dry. As soon as Tarzan realized this, Simba started to snicker and laugh, showing that this was meant to be a joke: "I sure got you, didn't I?"

Tarzan's concern immediately thawed away into a whimsical grin, and he decided to play along by teasing Simba physically, and therefore he shockedly said: "Why you little... Time to get punished!" he grasped the cub in his arms and gave him a rather rapid noogie around the brow, avoiding his mane, as he helplessly tried to wriggle himself free. Tarzan would also do the one thing that Simba could not tolerate at all: tickle him once again. He failed to hold back screaming fits of laughter, as Tarzan forced him to the floor.

"The king demands your surrender!" Tarzan hollered, still tickling the cub, as Jane watched on, laughing at how her husband acted: he was always ready for child-like banter with younger ones, and was playful with his older friends as well, when the need existed.

"Quiet, you'll wake the babies up!" Jane whispered into Tarzan's ear, immediately prompting him to stop teasing Simba.

"Okay, okay, I give up!" Simba said, finally catching his breath after the assault he received from the King of the Apes, and looking at him with an irresistible, innocent smile on his face.

"So, I trust your little rendezvous was successful?" Jane asked, crouching over the downed cub, stroking his belly gently with her frail hands, as he purred gently, and nodded his head; even though he did not understand the meaning of this strange word, he thought it probably related to his date with Sukari.

"Okay, you should go to sleep right now. Everybody's snoozing already." Tarzan said, urging the young one to get some rest, because it was later than his usual sleeping time, and because he was going to head to bed soon enough as well. The cub got up and headed upstairs, but not without hearing one more sentence from Tarzan: "Oh, and congratulations! We'll talk more about that in the morning. Now, good night!"

"Good night, you two!" Simba said, as he crept up the stairs leading to the house, with a delighted grin crossing his maw: who would not be happy after an evening like Simba's?

As he went into Tarzan's old cradle, he looked into the stars, and sighed in luck, because he learned this day that it took sacrifice and hard work to obtain a goal, and not mere chance alone, as most inactive sorts would believe. He tucked himself into the bed, mumbling the words of today's song before falling deep into sleep...


	14. Pride Land of Confusion

_One year later, in the Pride Lands..._

While the lush jungles of the west flourished, not the same could be said for the Pride Lands, which were located further to the east. Most of the trees started to whither away, swamps dried out completely, and once great, pure lakes that glistened in the midday sun, were reduced to filthy ponds that made a safe haven for the breeding of mosquitoes, which spread irritating rashes across every animal, without the fish to control their population, and in some cases, deadly diseases. This has driven the great giraffes to leave for the southern savannas, as the environment has become much too hostile for a normal life, with the lack of food and excessive encounters with hyenas. The increasing humidity allowed tsetse flies to spread like never before, and many animals suffered the damage their stings did to them. This also meant that the prey was suffering from increasingly debilitating conditions, and that the meat the predators ate was less and less healthy, with the exception of hyenas, who could eat almost anything without getting severely ill.

It did not take very long before the consequences of Scar's poor government started to show, like a reflection in the water that had just settled from a deluge. Earlier, he has disbanded the Pride Land guard, to secure the position that the hyenas hold in his rule, as they often got in the way of the hyenas' crimes, and has even exiled all its members under the threat of death, should they ever return. Upon the mass exile of the once proud order of defenders, Scar has written them off as "primitive" and "holding onto the past", not caring the slightest that he was separating families for the sake of furthering his own devilish agenda of what he called "a new era of tolerance, where lion and hyena come together, in a great, glorious future". This obscenity was yet another cause for some animals, who were the most devout followers of the Circle of Life, to leave the Pride Lands, either in great malcontent with Scar's reign, or in fear of their own lives, with the massing numbers of hyenas. For example, all the elephants that once stood watch over their home have utterly migrated to the southern savannas, which were adjacent to the Kalahari desert. Of all the plant-eating giants, they were the most loyal followers of king Mufasa, and seeing what his brother has turned the Pride Lands into, they could no longer bear the humiliation they beared every day, should they face the hyenas.

With the leverage of lordship firmly within his grasp, Scar also catered to one very important factor that would empower his position among the pride: securing his progeny, to prolong his rule. There were plenty of lionesses in the pride, but his sights were set on the more desirable females. Many have been overly defiant toward him, but there was one lioness in particular whom he could call someone who understood why he was frustrated about everything that happened to him, but she was never a lioness who would hold her guard against anyone, not even those whom she knew were threats, or misbehaving individuals, choosing to empathize with them instead, when they did not deserve it. A lioness who would know nothing better than to defer to others to make important decisions: her name was Sarafina, and she was about the same age as the caniving, greedy king. She knew that Scar was envious of Mufasa, but she did not want to go up in arms against him for that, because everyone else antagonized him for his wrongdoings and amoral attitude towards certain matters, which has come through when he seized leadership. Even in these times, Sarafina has shown that she hasn't the stomach to confront evil and point it out, especially when Scar did something unthinkable: he directly approached her and demanded that she fathers him a cub. That day, to enforce his decision, he 'courted' her with several dozen hyenas at his back and threatened to have her and her daughter, Nala, killed, should she recoil or refuse. Out of fear, the lioness submitted herself to the greedy, scar-eyed king. And so, three months later, she gave birth to a male cub whom she named Mheetu, and whom Scar immediately hand-picked as his successor. However, his laws dictated that the king should have rights to mate with all of the lionesses, to create a large harem, and sow his oats wherever he could manage. But there was no love in his crooked heart for any of them, except for a trace of it for Sarafina. Nevertheless, whenever the tawny lioness was approached by the king, she would feel an overwhelming guilt for what she has done: she cheated on her mate, and betrayed the core of the pride's honor and morality, something that was in dire need for the lionesses to survive Scar's tyranny.

Nala, Sarafina's daughter, did not take lightly to the news of having a half-brother, knowing who fathered him. She was now a two-year old, youthful lioness who resembled her mother only outwardly: she bore her tawny coat and green eyes, and with age, she started to gain more of a build that suited that of a practiced huntress, because adolescence is the most important time of life for lions of both genders to learn how to capture a kill and defend it from scavengers. In terms of character, the young lioness has taken more from her father than her mother. She was not someone who would tolerate injustice or call a wrong person right, not even to save her own hide. She was someone who valued the relationships with the ones she held dear, and was never ready to sell any of them out, not even to buy her future.

Nala was a great friend to Simba during his life in the Pride Lands. The two have spent hours on end every day exploring the Pride Lands in search of fun things to do, and they went along better than anyone else in the pride. Their closeness has grown partly out of their families being on excellent terms, and partly because they had many things in common. They were both boisterous and impatient, finding it difficult, if not impossible, to stay put for a long time. They were also very fond of adventure, and had a tendency to resort to mischief to get in a position where they could have their way. One example of this was when Scar informed Simba of the elephant graveyard that lay beyond the northern borders of the Pride Lands, which immediately caught the golden cub's attention, as he was eager to prove his courage to all the world, to show that there was much kingly about him. Therefore, he invited Nala to come with him to the place, but not without being watched over by Zazu, the red-billed hornbill who served king Mufasa as majordomo. The two cubs managed to shake the bird off, and during their frivolous banter, they encountered a sign that the place that Scar has mentioned was right in front of their noses. No sooner had Zazu caught onto them when they started to explore, but they were all taken by surprise when three spotted hyenas ambushed them. Shenzi was their leader, and along her side were Banzai, an aggressive, reckless male, and Ed, whose only means of communication was laughter. Unbeknownst to either of them, the lowly scavengers have been sent to kill Simba under Scar's orders, so that he would secure the place he had in line for the throne. A chase ensued across the parched wasteland, and just when the three hyenas cornered the cubs, Mufasa came to the rescue, thanks to Zazu's timely warning of their whereabouts. Since then, Nala has been scolded by her mother, and even warned that she should be careful about whom she makes friends with, noticing that Simba is flighty. But none of that stopped her from spending time with him, because he was the most amusing of the group. His supposed death took a heavy toll on her, because it was an untimely experience of losing someone you not only played with, but held as dear as a sibling. Over the past year, she has mostly avoided contact with Scar or the hyenas, staying mostly within the vicinity of Pride Rock as per her elders' instructions, because the savannas, just like now, were filled with rank upon rank of voracious spotted hyenas whose gluttony had no boundary.

The young, tawny lioness was seated upon a small rock overlooking the river, that was growing smaller and smaller as days went by. She was looking into the shallow water, trying to resist taking in all the discord that was sowed around her. Deep down, she loved her mother, but knew that her honor demanded that she doesn't endorse the relationship that Scar had with her. It was mostly because she betrayed her mate by doing so, regardless of doing it directly or indirectly. It was also because Nala knew that Scar only gave her mother more attention because of her looks more so than the relationship she had with him, and that he treated every other harem lioness the same way: there was no love for any of them, only lust. As a slight breeze blew into her face, she shut her emerald-colored eyes and heaved a sigh, her head plopping down like a falling fruit. She was too young to summon the strength she needed to bare these times, and there were very few who could console her, or even remotely understand what she was going through. Ever since Mheetu was born, she refused to have any conversations with her mother, so the only ones who were there were her friends, who were all around a similar age as she, and included both youthful lions and lionesses, who were just as disdainful of Scar's reign as she was, and in some cases, for similar reasons. As she was preparing to leave, she could hear a boyish voice behind her, calling for her by name: "Nala?"

By the very sound of this voice, Nala knew that it was Mheetu. Caught by surprise, she was wondering what the youngster was doing out here all by himself. He usually spent his days in the company of the other cubs, or Sarafina. He rarely spent any of his time with Scar, because he was too busy running the kingdom. It seems that he made an exception today, but surely it wasn't without a reason. Slowly, she turned her head to the little cub. His fur was slightly lighter in color than Scar's, but he had a fairly slender face, much like the latter, and the little fuzz on his head was combed back, though it was not as slick. He shared eye color with his mother, however, and was not as thin as Scar was. The young lioness broke the silence first: "Mheetu? What are you doing out here, on your own?"

"Just going out for a bit on my own." the little cub replied: "It's a little stuffy back in the den."

"Let me guess..." Nala said, turning herself completely towards the young rascal, and panning toward him with a teasing grin, easily figuring out the truth from his gestures: "My mom sent for me, didn't she?"

"What? Nah, I was just going to get some..." the cub started to deny, but just because he was a poor liar, he gave up on it and started telling the truth to her, his head held low: "Okay, she did... but she wants to see you, because she's worried about you."

"Isn't she, now?" Nala asked, still reluctant to revisit the point that she made to her when she found out that Sarafina's new cub was her half-brother. She turned her head away in contempt, still bitter of her mother's actions, whispering to herself: "She didn't care when she cheated on dad..."

However, Mheetu could make out some of the whispered words, and he would tilt his head to his left, curious about what Nala was talking about, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Nala noticed this, and hastened to cover it up, as if it was nothing of importance: "Oh, never mind.. I had a bit of a rough day, and I could use something to lift me up." saying this, she got up from her seated position and stretched herself, before she moved to leap off the rock she was standing on. Quickly, she was followed by an ever inquisitive Mheetu, who tagged along until he stopped in front of the teenaged lioness.

"Can I help you with that?" he suggested, grinning from ear to ear, curious on getting to know his half-sister.

Feeling overpowered by the cub's spunky nature, and interested in doing something different from her regular routine, she decided to allow the youngster to come with her, so that they can get used to one another. Smiling, she lowered her head to meet his eyes and whispered: "You can: follow me and keep quiet."

"Okie dokie!" Mheetu said, walking to Nala's left, looking at her incessantly. He thought that she was beautiful on the outside, but was curious of pealing back that lair, and wanting to see what was underneath, and so far, he was having fun studying his half-sister. At first, she seemed disinterested in him, but the boy could see that he has gotten some attention from her: whether he was fun or boring to her, he was about to find out. Nala, on the other hand, was clueless about what to speak of with him. She felt that it was not appropriate for her to talk about her family ties with him unless he asked her to, since she didn't want to create so much tension between them right from the start.

"You know, I was thinking something.." Mheetu started, trotting beside Nala as he started to speak out a simple question: "If my mom is also your mom, does that make you and me brother and sister?"

Nala's left ear twitched at this inquiry, because she hoped that the cub wouldn't ask such a question, to begin with. Alas, she was prompted to explain: "Well, yes, and no. Scar wasn't my father, unlike to you. My dad's..." she stopped for a brief second, to think up some kind of cover up, because in her opinion, Mheetu didn't need to know what their mother had done to Nala's father: "...he's dead."

Mheetu then lowered his head and formed a sad face, because being a cub, he had a greater desire to empathize with others than to further his will. He spoke out: "Well, I'm, uh... Sorry about that..." After this, another moment of silence would ensue, as they treaded the savanna, whose grass reeds have grown very sharp, due to the span between rains and droughts only increased ever since Scar ascended the throne. As much as the young cub could judge: he could see that his half-sister was in a no better mood than most of the pride. With the living conditions they had, the cub felt pretty much the same, and couldn't blame anyone else for it. It was dry, it took long for food to get to the pride, animals of all sorts and ages were getting sick, and none of the cubs were really allowed to go far outside Pride Rock without an escort. You weren't free to relax in whatever way you knew best, and every day passed under pressure.

Suddenly, the two could hear the yaps and laughter of hyenas no more than 20 yards in front of them, as well as what sounded like the snarls of a premature lion. This immediately earned their attention, and urged them to inch just a little closer to have a better look. They found one of Nala's peers, Tojo, being bullied by Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, as he tried to save some food he saved under a fallen log. To be expected, the greedy hyenas seized every opportunity they could take to steal food from any lion other than Scar. From what they were seeing, it seemed that Tojo was cornered, with no way out.

"Thanks for sparing us the trouble of sniffing that out ourselves." Shenzi said, eyeing the young lion viciously, closing in with the other two hyenas, closing the gap between his hide and their bone-crushing jaws. The savage female then said once more: "Now hand it over."

"You know the law, kid. All the meat in the Pride Lands is the priority of the hyenas." Banzai added, smirking voraciously, looking first at the young lion, then back at the meat that he had stashed, as Tojo recoiled as much as he could. However, he suddenly felt a strong urge to stand his ground for once, and to at least try and stop injustice for once in his lifetime, because he has had enough of being pushed around by those unworthy of it.

"No! I won't let you starve the pride anymore." Tojo bayed, now standing his ground firmly, snarling at his captors, who sneered at his frail attempts of self-defense: he was outnumbered threefold and there was no way that he would hold up very long, and his reaction was only met with confident laughter.

"Let him have it." Shenzi ordered coldly, thinking that the youthful lion has finally crossed the line, and that it was time for him to be taught a lesson. Nala and Mheetu hid in the grass, keeping out of the hyena's sights, but still watching what was going on.

As Banzai made the first lunge, snapping his jaws right in front of Tojo, the lion struck him strongly on the muzzle, sending him backwards. Immediately afterwards, he was attacked by Ed from behind, but he managed to leap onto the second assailant, forcing him to the ground, then growling viciously at the other two. Seeing this rather powerful display of defiance, the other two hyenas lunged into Ed's defense without hesitation, gnawing at wherever they could reach on the lion. Noticing that Tojo won't hold up very long against them, Nala couldn't watch this any longer, and therefore, wanted to get out of there as soon as possible: not only because of herself, but because of Mheetu. She grabbed him by the loose skin on his nape as any lioness could, and carried him away from the sight, as the hyenas made short work of Tojo, leaving him unable to fight.

"C'mon, you two. Let's take him to Scar.." Shenzi ordered to the males, as they carried the youthful lion, now faint, back to Pride Rock. The female hyena, on the other hand, grabbed the piece of meat that Tojo was hiding and carried it all herself, securing it for the trio, and any other hyenas that wish to eat.

"What were they doing out there?" Mheetu asked Nala, frightened by the scene, as they hid behind a large rock together: "Why were they fighting with that lion?"

"I don't know, Mheetu.." Nala said, hanging her head low in shock of what's come to pass so far. Eventually, she would gather the courage to tell the cub what she thinks about this, and it was not a very pleasant opinion: "It's just.. Hyenas are going to look for any excuse to attack young lions, or even grown ones when they're together in a clan. They do it for pleasure."

"I.. I don't understand why they'd do that." Mheetu said, with a worried expression on his face, as he could not fathom that any creature was capable of such sadistic behavior, because he, like most youngsters, believed that other animals should be helped, not taken advantage of.

The tawny young lioness heaved a sigh, as she lay on her side, and said: "Neither do I..." As she shut her emerald-colored eyes, she could feel something snuggling itself under her left paw, nuzzling her face. It seems that Mheetu wanted to take refuge with her from situations like these: how could Nala deny him when he was so innocent? He had no desire for harm, no greed... nothing like his father.

"Promise me you'll protect me when they come." the beige cub uttered, as he looked at Nala's eyes. She smiled gently at him, and gave him a small lick to his cheek, and one to his chest, to remove some filth from it. Then, she pressed him next to herself with her paw.

"Always..." she whispered, as the two started to snooze off in the shade, no one pestering them, or standing in the way of the affection that they were sharing. They didn't want to destroy it because their fathers were different lions: they wanted to protect it, nurture it and embrace it, because it's clearly something that made them both proud of one another. This also gave Mheetu hope that she and her daughter would make amends and rekindle their relationship eventually, because he was not one who could easily bare the notion that discord existed among the members of their family. Today was a great relief for him, because from his half-sister he got more attention than even his own mother, not to mention his father. He was willing to do anything for her now: be it a simple errand, or a grand adventure. He knew that they were growing inseparable.

* * *

 ** _Voila! Mheetu is here, and in a new manner of origin. I think it's more drama-arousing if he is Scar's cub rather than the cub of Nala's father, whom we are yet to meet in the not-so-near future. If I were to choose a voice for him, it would be Alexander Gould (Nemo in Finding Nemo)._**


	15. Life Is A Nightmare

Back in the thickness of the jungle, now shrouded in the black of night, life continued with its normal pace, without much to disturb its natural flow. Only the nightly birds sang from the trees, their mellow choir accompanied by the ever present chattering of crickets, who sat high in the trees, weaving even notes to balance the otherwise discorded bird calls. Such was the music of the night, but not always with a note this wary, because not everything was going to be so soothing tonight. It was the end of the dry season, and the billowing clouds wheeled overhead, blocking out the light of the stars, and dulling that of the moon. As one could tell, it was time for a change, one that would eventually shape the land into a new year, and rejuvenate it. Yet, of course, all new things come with a violent overture that wipes off every trace of what was there before. Like a snake would shed its skin, so would the jungle wash away its dried leaves, fallen petals and dead trees to regrow its true, mesmerizing splendor once more in a shower of rain, to provide its inhabitants with even more than they had before, but sometimes at their expense. The wind has grown very quick and strong, which only meant that the clouds were gathering for a reason - the new rain season was about to begin, and any small animal that was on ground level should take to the trees, ere they should face ending up in a watery grave, should the jungles be struck by a flash-flood. Some of the larger animals could avoid this fate, but even so, they had to look after their young at that, if they were to preserve their latest generation of younglings.

At the den of the Hotan pride, all lions lay asleep. Simba was cradled next to Huduma on the lower part of the cave, while Numa, his mate and Nyota lay above the rest of the pride, as a place that reflected their dominance above the rest. Most of them were fairly peacefully cradled into their usual sleeping positions, and probably had peaceful dreams that soothed their souls. But not the same could be said for a now adolescent Simba, whose mane has grown fairly since we have last spoken of him, and has even started growing on a small patch on his chest. He grew taller and stronger, which meant all the once spunky traits of a cub were long lost, for this young lion was on his way to becoming fully grown. Nevertheless, he, like all others, was not immune to hardships of the heart, and in his life, there were many. They kept his inner peace at bay during the day, and stole his sleep in the night. Tonight was different, because these demons went on to further torment him in the realm of his dreams...

 _In this world, Simba was still a cub, traversing the green savannas of the Pride Lands, following the one thing that was wedged into his heart from the day he was born: Pride Rock, in all its splendid glory, standing tall and proud above the rest of the flat landscape: for Simba, this was everything. This was his home, his kingdom to come, where his friends lived and played, of which he could ask nothing more. In this instance, all that mattered was that he was to be reunited with his pride,_  
 _because they were the only ones in the whole world that he held dear; he didn't want to pay any heed to what Scar told him down at the gorge, because he believed that he would be forgiven if he had gone to the rock. He believed that the others held the same feelings for him as they used to, and that they still saw him as the future king of the Pride Lands. He wanted to run into his mother's grasp and hold her paw tightly, to try and ease the pain she felt deep inside when his father died. Running past various animals, he made his way closer and closer to Pride Rock, and in a split second, he could notice the pride gathering around the base of Pride Rock. He saw it even better now. As it gleamed in the moonlight, a memory of all he ever knew, and all he ever wanted._

 _" **Hold on, mom! I'm coming to you!** " he shouted out, but much to his shock, Sarabi, as well as the rest of the pride seemed to be standing still, motionless, as if they didn't even notice who was coming, and why he was coming. He was heartbroken, lost and confused, he was coming to the only place he knew could offer him shelter, and was in dire need of companionship. Who would fulfill those small wishes if not his own kin? Growing nearer and nearer, he ran on, with his excitement stealing some of his breath, because he was now so close to reclaiming what used to be._

 _" **I'm home, everybody!** " Simba shouted, as he finally reached the pride, with a smile stretching from one of his ears to the other, as he was ready to live once again. He was so ready, that he didn't even notice that Scar was standing at the peak of Pride Rock, looking straight at him. It was not before long before the golden cub was alerted of his uncle's presence._

 _" **You are not welcome here, Simba!** " shouted a brown-pelted, lanky lion with a slick, black mane that was combed backwards, and a Scar grazing over his left eye. Simba's head immediately flew up, and the sky above began to turn from a clear blue, to a blood-like red, and everyone's eyes started glimmering with red. " **Traitors and murderers to the king or his family are the gravest sinners of all!** "_

 _" **You dared come back, after what you've done to the lion who raised you?** " Sarabi snarled, as her eyes pierced through Simba's, and the cub was already petrified by fear, shame and guilt. He had not the slightest idea what to do, or to expect, for their gazes came crashing down on him with tremendous hatred, and Simba felt that it was he who was to blame. " **Not like this, Simba. I can no longer call you a son of mine!** "_

 _" **Get out of here, you father-killer!** " Nala screamed vigorously._

 _Trembling with shock, the cub started to back away as much as his poor, weakened legs could carry him. He felt like his heart was torn from his chest, because it seemed that fate had forbid him to ever return to his proud home, even for a last chance to plead for some love, to ask forgiveness. Outcast. Betrayer. It rang in his ears with a deafening loudness that kept his eyes wide open, even as tears started careening from his eyes. The final portent was the vicious snarling that came from the lionesses of the pride, even from Sarabi: he couldn't stay any longer, he had to flee. He had to get out. All hopes for a new life were crushed utterly, and there was no time to ever come back. He had to run into the wilds, to be alone forever more, a hermit who was trying desperately to hide a sin that would make anyone turn against him, should he ever speak of it to anyone. Much to his dismay, he was pursued by someone, and they were hot on his trail. Unmistakably, these were the ferocious hyenas of before, that tried to kill him earlier, running fast behind him, cackling in delight as they quickened their pace to be done with the morsel as soon as possible. Their panting grew louder by the steps, and, as Simba ran for dear life for all the good it would do him, in a short amount of time, one of them snapped its jaws onto his midsection..._

Simba's eyes flew open after this, as he awoke with a short, startled scream, and was gasping for breath, with a pulsing pain beating in his head. He lightly hit himself in the forehead with the palm of his paw, as he tried to regain his bearings. He noticed that no one has been awoken by these sounds, and that he could sleep on if he wanted to...

But he couldn't sleep now.

He sneaked quietly out of the den, into the jungle, just to get as far away from other lions as possible, because he did not want to tell them anything about the overwhelming grief that hammered his heart every beat, every day. No one that the young lion knew was at all informed about his past life, or who his real family were. He made his way on foot across the path that he used to get back to the den from Tarzan's treehouse, because he was headed somewhere towards the latter. As he moved on, he could see a mother civet tending to her kits before the storm, carrying them one at time up a nearby tree for their safety and her own, because they would easily be drenched in the downpour, and even worse, they would all drown, should a flood start. Turning his head in another direction, he could see a pair of hornbills moving their unhatched eggs to the hole of a tree trunk, and also moving all their nesting material inside as well, hoping that this way, they will evade the worst of the rain and save their offspring. Seeing all these families together, Simba was reminded that he was far away from his real family, and that he direly needed them. Huduma was there to mend that wound, and Sukari was there to remind him of the bounties of friendship and having love in life, and they were vital in bringing him a few inches closer to being truly happy and fulfilled. Tarzan and his gang were also there, and they supported Simba in every rightful action that he took. Still, he couldn't be idle about what happened to him before, and as usual, he believed that it was his own fault.

As he moved through the jungle, he noticed a female okapi with a youngling cradled to her side. The elegant ungulate's ears perked at the noise that Simba was making while he moved around, lost in thought, and her head raised in alert of the sudden intrusion. To avoid being spotted, Simba quickly ran away from the scene, not wanting to cause any trouble, as the okapi returned to her slumber. The young lion then ran to a cliff that was looking out to the sea, as the wind blew into his mane. Desperately searching for his father's guidance, he scanned the skies in search of the slightest trace of a star, which was the only way he would know how to speak to him, at least deep in his spirit. He needed Mufasa more than ever now, because he started feeling that he was still too weak to weather the thought of having to face the world without the protection of his pride and family, and he felt unworthy of all that protection now, because it was his own actions that tipped the scale, and denied him of what was rightly his. He felt an overwhelming guilt for desecrating the delicate fabric that made the great Circle of Life what it is. He didn't know if the pride, back home, would forgive him for his transgressions, but he felt that he could not. Finding that the entire sky was hooded in a thick cloak of billowing clouds, the young lion heaved a deep, forlorn sigh, as he shut his eyes, slightly sobbing without any tears being shed.

"I'm sorry, dad... I'm so sorry..." Simba whispered to himself: "I wish there was any way I could make up for this..."

With nowhere to run for refuge, Simba saw before him the distant sight of Tarzan's treehouse, which was the only place where he would find any comfort. However, as he looked over to it, the last thing he saw was a bolt of lightning striking a place very close to it...


	16. The Fire

As the seconds flew by, the light that hit the tree started to intensify, and gain an orange color - it became terribly clear to Simba that this light was a rapidly intensifying fire that would consume the treehouse and kill everyone inside. His eyes widened with dilated pupils, and he started to shiver, hating to think what would happen if he were to do nothing about this impending disaster, or arrive too late.

"No..." he whispered for himself, then summoned his courage and darted straight toward the treehouse, hoping that he would arrive there in time to help everyone out. Running vigorously and quickly, his yellow form cut through the undergrowth like a bullet through the air, avoiding large plants as much as he could. Despite this, he knew that it would take more than his feline speed to help him reach the house in time, and all he needed to speed his progress up was a fine opportunity that he could use. Not before long, he saw it: a large fallen tree reaching the height of the nearest vines. He ran up the trunk, and upon reaching its end, he launched himself into the air, jaws-forward, and bit the first vine in sight firmly, launching himself to the first tree that was ahead of him, latching onto its trunk with his claws, then clambering up. From there, he continued doing the same, following the ever more potent smell of smoke that filled his nostrils, and thus, he sensed that he was drawing nearer to the burning house.

Meanwhile, the flames were rapidly crawling up the tree's trunk, but they hadn't reached the house yet. Tarzan managed to carry Jane out of the house, but one would wonder why he was carrying her? Some nine months back, Jane became pregnant, and this was the day she was due to give birth. She told him minutes before they got out that she felt pain, and that she was in labor. Thankfully, they came to the other side of the bridge, safe and sound. Her screams would echo across the bridge, and still were heard as she was brought to safety.

"Tarzan! Please!" Jane cried, as she was laid onto the jungle floor, yearning for Tarzan to stay by her side: "Don't leave me now! Not like this!"

"I have to save the rest of the troop! You stay here. I'll come back for you, I promise!" Tarzan said, with several tears flowing from his eyes. In them, there was a drop of pity, some fear, but mostly joy, because he knew that even though he didn't save their home, he saved her. He saved their future in the form of his forthcoming child, be it boy or girl. That notion, that flare of good hope, gave him courage to move on, because for the first time in his life, he felt like he truly accomplished something. After a brief moment, he would turn to Kala, who was nearby, and lay his hands on her shoulders: "Mother, look after her. I'll try and save everyone I can."

The female gorilla nodded affirmatively, but not without grabbing Tarzan's hand one more time and saying: "Be careful." And so, as the King of the apes made his way towards the house, which already caught fire, the she-ape looked toward the downed woman, lying on her back with her legs sprawled, groaning and crying in pain, and knelt to her: "Alright, Jane. Listen to me. Don't stop your breath like that. Don't be stiff! Breathe!" As Jane tried rather clumsily to take a breath, Kala spoke once more: "Breathe. That's it. Come on, deep breaths, deep breaths. Don't think about the pain, think about what's going to happen afterwards! You're going to have a baby, Jane." In that very moment, Jane screamed shortly once more, and reached for Kala's large, furry hand and grabbed it, continuing to breathe deeply and rhythmically, as per the she-ape's words. Moved, Kala held Jane's hand firmly, and tried to motivate her more.

The former prince of the Pride Lands continued his chaotic race across the jungle. However, in his smoldering mixture of fear and courage, he forgot to pay the utmost attention to the ground beneath his feet, and as he stepped on the branch of a dead tree, it inevitably cracked beneath his hind paws, sending the cat falling down with a scream of surprise. As his body hit the ground, he clambered back onto his paws and shook his head, to forget the pain and press on without stopping. Now, he could see that he was only a few yards away from the bridge, and that his peers were either running for their lives, or combatting the flames in whatever ways they could.

"Guys!" the youthful lion cried as he darted to the ledge where the bridge began, hoping to find someone alive. Eventually, he reached the troop, seeing that most of them were unharmed, but that not everyone was on count. The gorillas were looking out across the cliffs, while Archimedes and Tantor watched helplessly as the house started to crash down, for there was not much they could do for them. Skidding to a stop, Simba made his presence clear: "Guys! Is everyone okay?"

"Simba!" Kala spoke out in utter shock, still kneeling next to Jane, who took deep, steady breaths to get through this agony that coarsed through her body. She did not expect to see him here, and wondered how he managed to see the flames from afar, this late at night: "What are you doing here, this late?"

"Doesn't matter. I came to help." Simba said, catching his breath, as he turned his head towards the house, seeing that the foundations were starting to burn, and that the fire was climbing up the stairs. "How many more do we have left to save?"

"There's only a few babies, up on the high floor of the house. Hurry up to help Tarzan, and be careful." Kala responded, but her attention soon cut back to Jane, who screamed in pain of a very hard labor, which meant that the time of birth was coming soon: "Jane, I'm right here. Don't be afraid now. Keep pushing. That's it.."

Without delay, Simba darted across the bridge, no longer caring about its flimsiness, because there was no time for pedantic calculations. The fate of some of the troop hanged in the balance, and it was crucial that they be saved. Darting forwards, he could discern the images of Pumbaa, with Timon at his back, trying to carry a baby out of the house, and Tarzan, trying to get his leg out of a trap that collapsed onto it, as he was scowering the roof. He could also hear the cries of an infant gorilla coming from the height of the house. It wasn't long before Simba had an idea about what to do: as he came off the bridge, he stopped and called out to his eccentric friends: "Timon! Pumbaa!"

"Hey, it's the kid!" Timon yelled out to Pumbaa, with a glimmer of hope in his voice, knowing that now someone could save Tarzan and the baby. Pumbaa was also reinvigorated and filled with courage, and thus he trotted over to the teenaged lion to tell him about all the important things he needed to know before they all left the house for good.

"Simba!" the warthog called out, seeing that the young lion was already on their side of the bridge. As he was face to face with him, he started explaining what was going on: "Kid, we need some help! It's Tarzan!"

"He's trapped in the house, and so is a baby!" Timon added with a frantic tone.

Eyed wide with terror, Simba made no delays in jumping past Pumbaa, heading for the house, even though they felt that it was a reckless, suicidal move. The meerkat cried after Simba: "Simba! Come back!"

"You lost your mind?!" Pumbaa shouted, hoping that he would pay any heed to what they were saying, because they didn't want to see their once foster cub get into the same trap as Tarzan did. Nevertheless, he summoned all his courage, and headed straight into the house. As he prepared to run into the entryway, a board collapsed right in front of him, sending cinders onto his face. The young lion bawled from the singe, pawing his face to put the cinders out, ere he should catch fire. With his bearings regained, he leaped inside, finding Tarzan with his leg pinned under a pile of collapsed boards that crashed down on him from the ceiling. He was obviously very weak from breathing in the smoke that was filling up the house. Out of great concern for his well-being, Simba leaped towards him: "Tarzan! Tarzan, don't move. Stay still."

With several pushes and tugs, Simba managed to remove the boards, and set the King of the apes free. Seeing that he was still barely moving, the lion knew that he had to carry him out of there himself. Crawling under his body, he lifted him on his back, and carried him out the door, although with some difficulty due to his strength not matching that of a grown male lion; he could feel Tarzan's hands clinging onto him. As he started making his way down the tree trunk, he slipped on the bark of the tree, and inevitably tumbled down the trunk, and onto the canopy, which was devoid of flames. They both groaned in pain, with the man regaining his breath shortly after the pain he felt from the impact. It wasn't long before he climbed back onto his feet, desperate for fresh air, coughing as he moved away from the scene. Simba followed along to see if he was alright now.

"Are you alright?" Simba asked fearfully, but was glad when the man looked upon him with a smile, more glad than ever to see that the adolescent lion was as loyal to him as ever, and just as glad that he is still alive because of him. However, this brief moment of joy was ended by the cries of the baby who was trapped on the balcony. Simba then announced to his human friend: "I'll go get it, and then throw it from the balcony into your hands. Okay?"

"Okay, got it. I'll wait down here. Now, go!" Tarzan motioned Simba to keep moving, noticing that Timon and Pumbaa were still standing there, waiting for orders from the Ape-man. He looked at them and exclaimed: "Don't just stand there; get out of here! We'll handle this."

"Aye, aye, sir!" the duo said in unison, ready to take their leave for the safety of the mainland. Pumbaa trotted across the bridge, ready to take the news to the rest of the troop.

Simba was already scaling the rooftops, trying to get to the balcony. He avoided gaps in the roof easily, spotting either smoke or flames rising from them, and finally, he leaped down onto the terrace itself, finding the young ape pinned against the rail, its innocent eyes wide with horror. Grabbing him gently in his jaws, he hurled him into the air, and towards a waiting Tarzan, who grabbed him with utmost precision. Then Simba himself leaped off the balcony, and onto the canopy, where he landed safely, as it wasn't yet consumed by the blaze, where Tarzan waited with the baby in tow. From there, they made their way down, and towards the long, unstable bridge, which was their only ticket out of here.

They ran across the bridge in unison, with Tarzan moving on all fours, the young baby firmly clinging to his back, and Simba following them closely from behind. However, unbeknownst to them, the ropes holding the rear end of the bridge started to come apart due to the tension they were exposed to, and became thinner by every heavy footfall that they made. It was now or never, and they couldn't afford any midway stops, because they had to get to the other side alive. They didn't need to care about the bridge anymore, because now, it didn't lead them anywhere but a small portion of island. Their time living there was over. They were driven out of that land by the power of nature, which clearly worked against them. Fate decided that they be left homeless this night, but it also spared all of their lives. It meant that there was still a future for Tarzan, and for his troop, and that it was worth fighting for.

"Oh my God!" Jane screamed, as the labors now became more intense than ever, and it seemed that the baby's head was coming through, and that the birth would soon be over. Even so, Kala never left her side, and stayed next to her, offering words of comfort, and hope. She told her how Tarzan will come for her soon, and that they would soon celebrate the start of their own family.

It wasn't long before Tarzan made it through, and the baby he was carrying with him was reunited with his mother. At this point, the King of the apes was more ready than ever to join his wife again, to give her the final push she needed. However, they could all hear a scream from behind, and the sounds of cracking wood. Tarzan shockingly realized what had happened, and immediately darted towards the edge: "Simba!"

"No!" Timon screamed, fearing that the young lion died, and running to the edge, followed by Pumbaa. Tantor was also quick enough to take a look down. Luckily, they saw that he survived.

"He's alive, fellas!" Tantor cheerfully announced to the rest of the troop.

"Keep going, Simba!" Pumbaa shouted from above.

The youthful lion clinged to the boards on the bridge, climbing over them with pressure and difficulty, even breaking some of them off, because they didn't withstand the test of time, and each time he did so, a yell of horror would escape his lungs. He now found himself in a situation that bitterly reminded him of his earlier cubhood: the same position his father was in, just before he died. It filled him both with fear, and a desire to stay alive at all costs, hence his innate courage overcame the fear and made him press onwards: he did not want to end up like the boards that were collapsing beneath him. The main thing he learned about this is that he should on no account look down. If he did so, he would become more erratic, ever more afraid, and distraught. He needed the strength to survive, and he only looked towards a place that promised him life: up, and only up.

"Tantor! If he makes it up here, pull him up. If not, be ready to pull the bridge up." Tarzan said, before turning his gaze back down, towards the sheer drop: "Come on... You can make it. You must make it." At times, he would look back at Jane, saying the same words for her, from the whole of his heart, because he wanted their love to overcome all hardships, and didn't cave in to fears.

Soon, he had enough of the cracking boards that almost killed him, and moved onto scaling the rocks, which were much easier for him to climb on. As he scaled up, he grew more tired than ever, but as he reached up with his front paw for one, final time, he felt that it was touching the grass...

Not long before Tantor's trunk squeezed around it and pulled the lion over the edge. Just as Simba hit the ground, intense, high-pitched cries were heard amongst the group, and everyone turned their gazes towards this beautiful, undescribably warm sight. Just as the rain began to fall, extinguishing the ruins of an old life, amongst the reeds of grass a new life came to light. After nine months of pregnancy and painful labors, Jane has finally given birth to a baby boy. As the rain washed off the stains of blood, and his time in his mother's belly, he didn't yet show his face, as Jane held him firmly in his arms, to warm him in whatever ways she could. Tarzan crouched beside her, feeling something that he never felt before: he looked upon something he never even dreamed of having in the past. If it weren't for Jane, Tarzan would still believe that he is unworthy of having his own children, and that he is an outcast who doesn't deserve a mate. He couldn't hold back this surge of gentility, happiness and compassion, because now he was compelled to keep this boy safe, no matter what happened. To stay by his side, teach him, and protect him, until he comes of age and goes off on his own journey through life.

"I couldn't wish for anything better, Jane..." Tarzan said to himself, spilling tears of joy as he looked upon the baby, slowly and gently rubbing his soft, small hand with his own index finger, seeing that he already began to hold onto it, but slowly letting go from being dazed from the birth, and growing somewhat cold from the rain. Everyone gently approached and bowed to the couple, who now celebrated the beginning of their parenthood.

"Do you want to give him a name now?" Jane asked Tarzan, who looked over to her, already in a bit of thought. However, he quickly came to the conclusion that he did not want his child to bear an ape name, because it didn't fit him very well in his heart.

"Well, I'd rather let you choose." Tarzan responded.

"I like... Jack." the brunette said, stroking Tarzan with her right hand, as she lay on the ground, with the baby boy pressed against her breast. She could see that Tarzan was complacent, and that he didn't mind any choice she made.

"Jack..." he whispered, fondly kissing Jane's hand, as he took it in his: " _Perfect..._ "

* * *

 _ **Sorry it took me this long to post a new chapter. I've been caught up with faculty business, and it's been hard to focus on multiple things at a time. But I can promise you that I am still writing, and that I will continue to write as long as I can. This story, as well as other projects I have in plan will definitely stay alive!**_


	17. The Secret of Opar

Two weeks after the doom of the treehouse, Tarzan and his troop didn't move too far from it. In fact, they stationed themselves near an ancient ruin, known to the jungle animals as the lost city of Opar. Shrouded in mystery, its origin unknown, it could but captivate the minds of the curious creatures who were either too mesmerized with its outward appearance to explore it in depth, or were too frightened by the false rumors that surrounded it. Some told that evil spirits dwell in the crevices in the ruins and devour those who visit at night. Others spoke of the diamonds placed in some of the statues granted anyone who would look deeply into them great mystical powers. However, as is usually the case, these myths were yet unchecked.

"I don't know about you guys, but Zutho the mandrill says that he saw some kind of ghost in that old ruin that's next to our nest." Tantor said to his troop peers, who were nestled in a circle, and were discussing the old relic. It didn't escape their ears either, but many of the apes were skeptical about this. Especially Terk.

"What, Zutho?!" exclaimed the tomboyish female gorilla, who sat opposite of Tantor, without a grain of trust in the mandrill's words, as he was known jungle-wide for telling tall tales, unproven stories and lies: "Would you really believe that guy?"

"Yeah, don't listen to him." added Taug, who was eating bamboo to Tantor's left.

"He still owes me that passion fruit he's been jabbering about for so long..." Flynt added, seated to Terk's right. However, Archimedes Porter was quick to seize upon these words, and since he knew something the apes did not, he jumped into the conversation to set his claim about the passion fruit, and reason it.

"Oh, but passion fruit are real!" professor Porter said.

"What?" the collective spoke out in unison.

"Only, they grow overseas, in South America, where they are called maracuya." the old man continued: "I went to Brazil shortly before Jane was born, and it was the first time I tried wild passion fruit. They grow from plants called passion flowers, and they are round, soft and juicy. And delicious, if I dare say so myself. Only, you will probably never have the opportunity to eat some of them."

The crowd then frowned at the realization, while Tarzan, who sat next to Jane who held their son, who was to her father's right, chuckled at it.

"Alright, alright, whatever." Timon said, walking into the middle of the circle, readying to tell everyone a story himself. "I wanna tell you something about the ruin too! And I bet it's not disappointing."

"What is it?" asked a gorilla from the circle.

"Come on, Timon!" Pumbaa encouraged.

"Alright, alright!" Timon raised his hands in the air, then started talking: "Long ago, there was a chimp who came there, and he told me that he saw some big, shiny things in there, glowing in the rocks. He climbed all the way to them, and touched them with both of his hands. He told me he felt like he became immortal that day. And he's still alive! Think about that, you fellas? Want a chance to live forever?" he looked to everyone, trying to raise support for this cause.

"Nope." Mungo said, then proceeding to prove Timon wrong: "Are you talking about old Nkosi?"

"Yeah." Timon confirmed, caught off guard by this remark.

"Well, hate to tell ya, buddy, but he died a few weeks ago." Mungo said, dismantling the story instantly: "But he did live to be 85 years old, in the end."

Timon's initial emotion of confidence began to collapse into a defeated frown, as he saw that the story he suggested was but another jungle legend that didn't live very long. However, while others laughed at the meerkat's misfortune, the only one who stood by his side was Pumbaa, who patted him on the back, saying: "It's alright, Timon. We all had that one time..."

"What about you, Pumbaa?" Tarzan asked, attentively listening to the conversation.

"Uh... I don't have anything to.." Pumbaa began to refuse, but eventually, the peer pressure started setting in, and many of the apes were soon curiously aching for a story from the warthog. "Come on! Give us a story! We wanna hear it!"

"Well, I saw plenty of leopards out there when I last passed by, and that was a long time ago, when I was a young warthog." Pumbaa said shyly, hiding his face from view, because he did not want to be ridiculed.

As the warthog expected, his statement was met with utmost denial and rebuttal, and no less laughter than Timon's legend of the immortal chimpanzee. Pumbaa merely looked at Timon and shrugged, meaning to explain that he expected this kind of reaction, as he himself was unsure of what he saw, because he was young.

"What?! A leopard, around here?!" Terk screamed.

"They've never come a pinky near this place!" Flynt added.

The only one who did not underestimate the possibility of Pumbaa's claim was Tarzan. He laughed only briefly, but then it came to him that he should be serious about this, ere his troop's lives would be in jeopardy, especially his newborn son, whom he could not afford to risk to the ravenous hunger of the ferocious big cats. He whispered to Jane, who was still giggling: "I think I should investigate nevertheless. You never know." That said, he moved over to Tantor and also suggested to him: "How about you and I taking a little scouting trip around that city, just to make sure."

Aching for adventure, the elephant merely nodded his head, and helped Tarzan climb up on his back. With that done, the King of the Apes announced his brief departure: "We're going on a scouting party, and we'll be back in a while. Taug, watch over the troop for me!" It wouldn't be long before the two finally left the nest, heading out for a look around.

"Aye, aye, Tarzan!" the obese gorilla said, moving over to his usual guard position, standing by the stone that marked the border of the troop's nesting area.

Pumbaa and Timon were still sitting where they were, trying to find a topic to discuss after both of their stories have been forcefully denied by their friends. But it wouldn't be long before the meerkat finally came up with a subject to discuss: it was Simba. The young lion has spent most of his recent days away from the troop, and in the company of his girlfriend, Sukari: "When was the last time Simba came around?" the small mammal asked his pig of a friend.

"I don't know? Ten days ago?" Pumbaa asked, and watched as Timon moved towards the horizon, in the direction of the Hotan territory, wondering what the young lion might be doing.

"I'm tellin' ya, he's hooked." Timon remarked: "So hooked he forgot where his first real friends are..."

* * *

It has been one whole year since Simba and Sukari became lovers, and as the two grub-eating companions noted, they were inseparable for a grand portion of their time together. While Simba usually provided adventures, good times and spontaneity to Sukari's life, she was still rather withdrawn from social activities, but much more relaxed and amiable than she was before. She showed Simba what it means to withdraw your own desires for the greater good, sometimes even resorting to lying to avoid trouble with others.

On this particular day, they went out into the protected parts of the jungle to hunt for prey as a pair. With some long consultation with the pride leader, Numa, they headed out. They knew where the territory of the pride would be marked, and they made their best effort to steer clear from those regions. Their plan was to hunt smaller game, like duikers or a single bongo, to exercise group hunts with the whole pride, with larger game in question. This time, they stuck together, and scouted the terrain for spots where game would most likely show up. Creeping around a small clearing, the two young lions spotted a perfect opportunity: a single female bongo with a calf in tow, feeding on the nearby foliage. They stopped to assess the situation at hand and devise a plan on how to hunt down at least one of these two hoofed animals. Simba wanted to have Sukari lead the chase, while he would go to the sidelines to stay out of sight, and prepare an ambush attack to take one of them down.

"How do we catch one of those?" Sukari whispered softly, inquiring for a plan of action.

"Listen to me." Simba inched his head over to her ear, whispering just as softly: "I'm going up into the trees, to give you the signal when to go after them. Try to split them up. When you do that, I'll go for the throat. Understand?"

Sukari nodded affirmatively, and lowered herself even more deeply into the undergrowth, watching the two ungulates feed, still not aware that they were being watched by hunters. Simba, on the other hand, crept away, but not on the floor, but up above: he slowly climbed into one of the further trees where he could not be spotted, and looked down at Sukari, who could notice him up above by turning her gaze upwards. They were both still as the morning mist in the jungle air, and quiet as the night after the summer rains. They were more ready than ever, and patient enough to calculate when the time to act would come. All that needed to be done was for Simba to give the one thing that would kickstart a primal chase, the order to pounce and keep in toe with the prey. They still lay quiet, calculating, thinking, counting on their timing and skill, with senses on highest alert, because there was no room for error.

It was eerily silent in the rainforest now. So serenely silent. Just the right kind of atmosphere to put the prey at ease, for our young hunters to avoid detection, as they lay still, counting down to that one moment when the chase would finally commence...

...and it finally came.

Leaping from her hideout in the grass, Sukari ran towards and skidded around the couple, to make doubly sure that they stay together, so that they would have better odds at capturing at least one of the bongos. With that, she followed the small ungulates, who were galloping through the trees, towards a very thick grove of plants that formed a dead end for them both. Simba was already ahead of the chase, and waiting for the right time to leap out of the trees and onto the nearest of the antelopes, and he was doing a fine job thus far, holding his footing firmly and masterfully applying the skills taught to him by Tarzan. Elegantly careening down wavy, uneven branches, and latching onto the vines with his teeth, he swung with seamless ease, for his neck and shoulders have grown in strength greatly since he first heard of the technique, providing him the strength needed to withstand the momentum of the swing, and safely leap back to the next tree. He was also more agile than most male lions of his age, and able to hold more stamina than anyone in the pride over longer distances, more akin to leopards, while the average lion has comparatively lower stamina. Looking down, the youthful lion could see that his hunting partner was not doing half-bad either, as she has successfully managed to keep up with their quarry. It made him happy to know that someone he could count on was at his back, because two forces that work in alignment with one another always outlast one that has but power.

However, just as the two were about to reach the dead end, a black figure presented itself in front of Simba, standing still on the tree branches. It was Sheeta, the more belligerent of the sinister leopard twins who nearly killed him when he was a cub: the golden feline skidded to a stop, dead in his tracks, staring down his opponent, who was smirking, and already salivating from a desire for action. Simba stood in utter shock, while both the bongos and Sukari passed him by.

"I bet you missed me, kid." said the feline with a silent growl to his voice, and a grin from ear to ear.

Knowing that there was no time to waste on analyzing, Simba launched his claws across his adversary's eyes, and as he screamed in pain, he jumped on top of him and proceeded to flee. He then saw that his good fortune was not meant to last for long, as two more spotted leopards jumped after the young lion, arguably with the same intent as Sheeta, who was already blaring in anger: "Get him!"

Simba moved rapidly, swinging across the path below him using a vine, as the two leopards tried to imitate this technique: they failed, as their vines became intertwined, causing them to smash into each other and fall to the ground. He tried his best to deter the spotted cats from Sukari, who was lying on the jungle floor, having sustained an injury from the mother bongo, who managed to overpower her, without Simba's help. As she looked around frantically, she saw her partner and yelled out to him: "Simba, what's going on?! Where were you-"

"Leopards!" Simba yelled back.

"What?!" Sukari hollered in horror.

"Go find Tarzan, in case I don't come back!" Simba shouted to her.

The young lioness nodded to Simba's word, and scurried away, into the jungle, to find a safe spot from which she could see if her partner and lover would make it out of the danger without major consequences. The young, half-maned male elegantly ran from one tree to another, until he felt his rear paw bumping into something, and it caused him to tumble fifteen feet from the canopy, and onto the soft, leaf-covered jungle floor...

Lying still, Simba quickly regained his senses after a short period of dizziness. Shaking off the leaves that were stuck in his mane, he looked up to see a large, spotted male leopard staring right at him with green eyes, with such dangerous pride, cruelty and malice that froze him still for a moment. The cat had a prominent underbite, and a strong chest, with what seemed to be a healed stab wound to the left lung, that the aged feline had somehow survived.

"It's about time we met, youngling..." the leopard said.

"Who are you?" Simba asked, with an increasingly hostile tone in his voice.

"Waridi's the name. And you've seen me for the last time." the leopard replied, with a growing smirk on his face. Simba was not ready to submit to him by any means, because to him, submitting to an enemy was a death sentence. He snarled, and reached to attack him with his paw, but the leopard quickly countered and struck him with his paws, three times in a row, with the third hit knocking the young lion out cold. In due time, all the leopards that gave chase to Simba earlier appeared, grinning with satisfaction now that their goal was so near completion. The goal to eliminate all who dare stand in the way of leopard supremacy in the jungles. Soon enough, the group was also joined by a male mandrill. What was he doing here, among animals that would surely kill him for food? It was not easy to discern yet...

"Let's kill the whelp now!" Sheeta snarled with sadistic joy.

"No." Waridi replied: "I want to watch him suffer in his death as we've suffered under the paws of the savanna-roamers. Take him to the ruins." he said, before moving towards the mandrill, with a crooked smile on his maw. He chuckled cruelly: "And to you, Zutho... I'll give you exactly what you pleaded for, because you did your part of the job well. But there's one more thing to do: the girl needs to know where we are. I'd much prefer double pleasure in this. Make sure she tags along to join her boyfriend. It pains me to sever their bond by killing just one."

"Yes, Master Waridi.." Zutho nodded wickedly, before heading out to find Sukari, to lure her alone into the ruins so that she could be killed along with Simba, to prevent more offspring from being born.

* * *

 ** _[Sorry it has been such a long time! Faculty is my full-time duty, and times are rare to finish fanfic chapters quickly. I hope you folks enjoy yourselves as you read this!]_**


	18. The Rescue

Frantically, Sukari scowered through the jungle, looking for Tarzan, or anyone she knew was associated with him. Searching every bush, crevice and around her, she feared that she would find the King of the Apes too late to save her dearly beloved. It was in this moment that a strange mandrill fell out of the trees, in front of her, with a greeting grin. Little did she know that this was actually the servant of the leopard leader Waridi, Zutho, who has been sent to lead her to the death that was also intended for Simba.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Zutho asked, feigning benign interest in the young lioness' cause.

Sukari, after a jolt of her head, rebuked him very quickly: "I don't have time to stop and talk! My friend's in danger!"

Before she could continue her search, the mandrill would once again inquire: "Wait, was he a golden-colored male with an auburn mane?"

Sukari immediately stopped at the notion of a description that strikingly matched that of Simba. She approached the monkey and asked curiously: "How do you know?"

Zutho then formed a bereft, compassionate expression, trying to make the young girl believe that he had sympathy for her: "Well, hate to tell ya, miss, but the leopards got him."

Sukari's eyes flew wide open, as her mind and heart were flooded with overwhelming shock, with a massive fear of the worst setting in. Her voice turned into a frail whisper: "Oh, no...", as a tear started rolling down her nose; she slumped into a seated position and started to sob.

Zutho's face would also convince a laic that he was about to cry himself, as he crept over to the weeping lioness and stroked her over the neck and shoulders with his gangly, skinny hand: "There, there, little one... Oh! I overheard them talking, and I heard that they won't kill your friend right away. They want to perform a ceremony to challenge him in a fight. There's hope for savin' him yet!"

Sukari was moved out of her grief by these remarks, and she asked worriedly: "Well, where is he now?"

Zutho began to explain: "They took him to their sacred gathering place. It's an ancient stone ruin called Opar. No one is allowed there except leopards, with a common desire for domination over the jungle, and burning hatred for lionkind. Of course, I could show you the way, if you'd like it."

Sukari was indecisive, and no less suspicious. On the one hand, she needed all the help she could get to rescue Simba. On the other hand, she was looking for someone she could trust to show her the way. The mandrill did not quite sit into that category. She then started to elaborate her intentions: "Well, I was actually heading to..."

Zutho interrupted her, trying to persuade her that there was no time to mull his offer over: "I'm afraid there ain't much time to talk now. You'd be better off with someone who knows it's, ahem, secret entrances?"

"Secret entrances?" Sukari's eyes narrowed, with mounting curiosity.

Zutho smiled slyly and confidently: "You bet. You'd have to be a really keen listener if you wanna hear a mandrill dropping eaves on you." Looking at the expressions on the young lioness' face, the cunning monkey could notice that his power of persuasion was turning the situation in his favor. Sukari was caving, but nevertheless stayed hesitant at the baboon's offer: "Can you be trusted?"

Zutho laughed almost fully innocently, and responded with a teasing grin, nudging the young feline with his right elbow: "Oh me? C'mon, I don't bite..."

It wasn't long before the ocker lioness sighed, finally acknowledging Zutho's companionship: "Alright, alright... You look like you know what you're talking about, so I'll tag along."

Zutho then swiped his hand through the air in a fist, showing great gladness that she fell into his trap: "Thatagirl! C'mon then, we're burning daylight! Time to mosey along." It wasn't long before the mandrill dashed off, and up into the trees again, to gain speed and move along more quickly.

"Hold up!" Sukari called out, soon starting to run after him. She could only see him stop once, motioning her to hurry up. She maintained an even, fast gallop as she plowed through the jungle vegetation, occasionally tripping on some underlying vines. When Zutho next appeared in sight, he was running across a fallen log that made a bridge over a small gorge. As she proceeded to follow along, she slipped on the moss that covered the bark, and yelped. Thankfully, she managed to hook onto a dry part of the tree with her claws to avoid falling.

"Could you slow down?!" Sukari shouted, trying to persuade the mandrill to tone his pace down. However, to her dismay, she could only hear his condescending, mocking laugh echoing through the jungle: "See you in the next life, you dumb cat!" He decided to leave her here, because he knew this tree was not in the best shape, and that she was as good as dead here anyway.

Sukari snarled angrily at this betrayal, but once again screamed in horror, as the bark that she was clinging to was soon giving in, and it'd only be a matter of time before she'd plummet to her death. Just when it seemed inevitable, and Sukari firmly shut her eyes to avoid thinking about her passing, she could feel something grabbing onto each of her paws, holding her tightly. Once she opened her eyes again, she saw Tarzan pulling her up, and back onto the log again. As soon as her hind legs could reach the tree's surface, the young ocker lioness helped herself up, breathing heavily and excitedly.

"Are you alright?" the King of the Apes asked, looking the young lioness right in the eyes.

"How could I have been so stupid to believe that trickster?!" Sukari scolded herself, turning towards the direction in which the mandrill presumably headed off in.

"Never mind him. What are you doing out here, and where's Simba?" Tarzan asked curiously, finding Sukari's solitude to be an oddity.

Sukari finally consolidated herself and began to explain what happened to her beloved: "He's been taken by some leopards..."

Tarzan's face showed mounting concern and anger: "When?! Where?"

"Nearby, on the bongo grazing ground." she recounted: "There was this mandrill who said they're taking him to some ruin, and that they're gonna kill him there!" she finished in horror.

"Easy, easy..." Tarzan said, gently stroking Sukari's neck: "We'll find him and save him."

Sukari then asked him: "So, what do we do now?"

Tarzan began to move off the log, his face showing clear signs that he was thinking things over, trying to figure out a plan to break Simba out of Opar: "Now, we're going to figure out how." Sukari then saw that Tarzan was not alone, and that they were going to have a ride to the lost city on the back of Tantor. They climbed on the pachyderm's back, and headed off to the den, to regroup for a rescue mission.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile...**_

In the end, it would turn out that Pumbaa's assumption of Opar being a leopard stronghold were frighteningly true. Several dozen of the spotted cats had gathered at the ruins to behold a spectacle arranged by their supreme leader, Waridi. It happened in a chamber within the temple that was the remnant of what used to be a sporting field, with stands and a circular sandy arena in the center. Massive pillars surrounded the field, with grotesque sculptures carved into their centers, resembling stylized dragons. Braziers sat at their bases, lit with a bright red flame (thanks to Zutho). Simba was dropped in the middle of the arena, and the fall snapped him back into consciousness, as she shook his head drowsily. What he would see would neither be pleasant, or promising: dozens of leopards were staring at him from high above in a somewhat crouched posture, with malicious intent burning in their pupils, which suggested that something was going to happen that was not in the young lion's favor. Only one stood tall, and Simba recognized him as the very leopard who rendered him unconscious earlier: the one who introduced himself as Waridi. He suddenly stepped ahead and started to speak: " **Friends in blood, kindred leopards! You've been summoned here to bear witness to the dawning of a new era! An era where our kind will rule the jungles, undisputed by the savanna-treading usurpers!** " This war-mongering speech was greeted with much applause from the other spotted felines, who seemed to relish the opportunity to exact revenge upon lionkind.

Waridi then raised his right paw, to which everyone silenced: "But, I think it'd be most quaint if our long, hard work started with a little celebration, for good fortune. It's time to see if the lion youth has the might that its adults so proudly gloat of." And so, the alpha leopard motioned Sheeta, the rash, reckless one of the black leopard twins, to descend into the arena to face Simba. Upon stepping onto the soft, grainy sand of the arena, he bore a devilish grin, and could hardly wait to taunt the lion: "You're **mine** , Goldilocks!"

Waridi bore a condescending smirk on his maw, and proceeded to address Simba, who was not entirely a mismatch for the leopard: "Sheeta seems to insist to be the first to test this. Now, I trust you know the rules of a duel, cub? You stand two paces from your opponent, and face him. Only on my mark will the duel begin." On this note, Simba took a look around him, and eyed his surroundings to get an awareness of how he should handle the situation in order to escape mortal danger. It was no easy matter: he was surrounded by foes, and what was worse, there was already a particularly ax-crazy one in front of him, who was already licking his chops, in firm belief that Simba would be easy prey.

Unbeknownst to the leopards, Tarzan has already gathered a force great enough to storm the temple of Opar, and was spying on them from the back entrance into the temple, since the front would only expose them to danger. Through a crack in the wall, they could see what was going on above the arena, and it didn't look benign by any means. It showed that the place was crowded with spectating leopards. This not only raised the question of what the most effective method of breaking in would be, without jeopardizing anyone's life, but made the King of the Apes fear for what should happen if Simba were to be assaulted by the whole group of spotted cats.

Timon, seeing the massive crowd of leopards, could only frown in utter despair: "I hate when the joint's crawling with bad guys..."

Tarzan, however, was not one to falter soon. He reassured Timon that he was truly pondering the means of this rescue: "Don't worry: we'll have the advantage of surprise over them soon..."

" **Now!** " Waridi's formidable voice boomed, and before the echo would stop spreading through the cave, Sheeta pounced zealously towards Simba, but the young lion was nimble enough to avoid him before he landed on top of him. Being in closer proximity to the golden cat, the black leopard hurled paw swipes towards his face, but again, he dodged out of the way, not allowing him to score any strikes for now. With each missed swipe, Sheeta grew ever more angry, and made forced swings. Simba jumped up out of the way of one of them, and managed to claw the black feline across the front of the face. Screaming in anger, the leopard shook his head violently and held it with his paw, trying to regain his focus. But it was too late to recuperate now: Simba already slid under him, and landed a strong kick to his gut with his rear limbs, which made him drop down low enough for Simba to tackle him from behind, paws wrapped around his neck, and his teeth biting into it. The leopard first tried to shake his assailant off by mere force alone, but he rather had an uncommon moment of deliberation, and cleverly used all of his strength to throw himself onto his back, which definitely hurt Simba enough for him to let go of him. And this time, he unleashed a lethal attack: he bit down on the underside of Simba's neck, in an attempt to choke the life out of the young lion. Gagging, Simba twitched at first, and then started to desperately claw at his opponent, in hopes of shaking him off. It felt like the clock counting down the final minutes of his life was ticking, faster by the second, as in this moment, nothing seemed to be nearer to him than a swift death. This filled his heart with a life-driving fear that gave him the strength to continue struggling.

"So, what'll it be, Tarzier?" Mungo asked his friend, back outside the temple.

After some pondering, Tarzan finally concluded: "Warthog stink bomb..." It consisted of throwing the bumbling warthog into the midst of the leopard crowd to get Simba out of the temple.

Pumbaa immediately jumped at the idea: "What? I don't see any warthogs around here." Everyone eyed him, in hopes that he would accept the offer. However, the swine didn't seem like he was going to budge anywhere soon, because he was too afraid to jeopardize his own safety yet.

Tarzan tried to bring courage into his heart: "Oh, come on, Pumbaa, it's gonna be perfectly safe; they'll surround you completely!"

"What's so good about that?!" Pumbaa countered at this notion, which so far seemed to be outright insane.

Timon was quick joined sides with Pumbaa: "Yeah, I'd never let - ", but then, remembered something that made Pumbaa unique among other warthogs: "Hey... But you don't do so well in crowds, do you?"

"Uh... no." Pumbaa affirmed.

Timon then swung his fist in realization: "That's it! When they gather around you, they'll never know what hit 'em!"

Pumbaa's attempts at defending himself waned: "They're gonna eat us as soon as they-" until the hog caved completely after he saw a beckoning glare in Sukari's eyes, that urged him to give in: "Aw... Alright..."

Whilst still in Sheeta's stranglehold, Simba was fortunate enough to reach the leopard's eye with one of his paws, and he poked him there. When his opponent loosened his grip, the golden lion grappled his opponent with his paws, and, summoning all the strength his body can ferry, he hurled him off of him. The fanatical black leopard thudded onto the sand, flinging it into the air. However, he was all too quick and furious to rise back onto his paws. It was now clear that Simba, who was snarling defiantly at him, was not going to give in easily. Cracking his neck and twisting his shoulders, the coal-black feline threatened: "Won't break easy, eh? Good, 'cause I could really use a challenge!"

Sheeta ran in again, only to be shoved aside by Simba, who also charged towards him. The leopard stumbled a bit before regaining his footing fully. He could hear Simba trying to pounce on him, and was ready. He hurled dirt into his eyes, which made the young lion scream in anguish, and rub his eyes. Seizing the opportunity, the panther began to dish out a barrage of claw swipes to Simba's face, only to end it with an uppercut that sends his opponent falling down.

"Flynt, Mungo: you know what you have to do, right?" Tarzan asked the rambunctious gorilla friends, who were preparing a surprise for a returning Zutho, who was certainly not at the temple at this time, but was bound to return to Opar, because from Sukari they found out that he was in league with the leopards, in order to receive a reward of the finest mangoes in the jungle, all to himself.

"Yup: fruit salad for Zutho." Flynt said affirmatively, as both of them headed out to find the suitable fruit to throw at the crooked mandrill. Meanwhile, Pumbaa was still difficult to persuade into taking action to save Simba, for fear of losing his own skin.

"I'm still not sure about this..." He bawled nervously as Timon pushed him towards the rooftop, from which he was to jump into the middle of the temple to rescue Simba.

Timon reassured his companion that everything would work out fine for him: "Oh, quit your bellyaching. You'll smell so bad they wouldn't even want to taste you."

The porker took a deep breath, before uttering an ultimatum: "Alright. On the count of three! And afterwards, he started pawing the stone floor with his hooves, before starting to count, very slowly, and very nervously: "One..."

As Sheeta once again tried to leap on Simba, attempting to attack him, the young lion managed to spot him, and prepare himself. Still lying back against the floor, he caught the leopard as he landed on him, and used his hind legs to hurl him behind him. The unfortunate feline crashed into a pile of nibbled skeletons.

"Two..." Pumbaa counted with the pace of a tortoise, sweating with fear and hesitation, and denting the patience of everyone in the group. Especially Terk: she couldn't bare the sight of a squirming Pumbaa putting off such a simple errand for such a long period of time, and decided to take matters into her own hands... literally.

"Oh, for the love of– **give me that!** " Vigorously, she snatched Tarzan's spear from his hands, and ran right behind the warthog: "Get a move on, Porky!" she thrust the spear's tip lightly into the hog's backside, which sent him leaping forward with a brisk gallop.

" **Threeeeeeeeeeeeeee!** " the fearful swine squealed, as he ran towards the crevice on the ceiling of the temple, and jumped in, in the very same moment that Simba was being utterly surrounded by scores of spotted big cats, thirsting for the adolescent's blood. The young lion assumed a defensive crouch, but he was utterly dumbfounded to see Pumbaa in here. What in the name of the Great Kings was he doing? What was he thinking? Who sent him? As the leopards drew closer with each step, snarling viciously, and Pumbaa sweating with more and more anxiety, the witty young lion managed to connect the dots: this was part of a rescue mission. Hence, Simba, aware of the hog's secret power, turned away from his rear and shut his nose, while the spotted felines did not anticipate a thing. Pumbaa only dared to turn around only to see how many leopards there are, and then squeaked helplessly...

And thus, he unleashed a loud, booming fart that echoed across the temple, and spread through the air like a blight, bearing the smell of what seemed to be a hundred rotting animal corpses sprayed by striped polecats. The first leopards in line shuddered with much sickness before they lost all consciousness and fell, while the others went teary-eyed, squealing in anguish, or coughing with discomfort, because nothing could smell worse.

Simba couldn't bear this pungent odor well either. Between coughs, he managed to address his friend: "Come on, let's get outta here!" That said, the two darted towards the main entrance, which was the only escape from the temple. However, they would not go unnoticed, since Waridi was ever keen, even in distractions like these. He could spot the two getting away with the very edge of his eye, which gave him the seriousness and aggression to command a chase.

"After them, you fools!" the large-chinned leopard hollered. With this, whatever was left conscious of the leopards chased the duo as they made their way across the bridge that led to the main gate. They quickly started catching up to them, when a loud, screaming battle cry was heard, and a small, furry form leaped from cover. It was Timon, and he was once more armed with the poisonous fruit that helped him and Pumbaa get away with their lives when they were chased by rampaging baboons.

"Who wants some candy? Step right up! Step right up!" Taunted the meerkat, before once again using Pumbaa's tail as a slingshot for releasing the irritating fruit into the faces of the leopards. Having never seen or heard of this unorthodox weapon before, Simba was surprised: "What are you doing?"

Timon, in the middle of action, responded: "Well, you don't want some of these Tutti Fruttis in your face. They really hurt when they hit!" He then faced the leopards again, shooting down a few more, that caused major disarray amongst their lines: "Alright! Who's next?!"

It was in this moment, when it seemed that Timon's defense wouldn't keep them in the lead for very long, that a massive boulder was hurled from the gate, and straight into the stampede.

"Whoa!" Shouted a rightfully terrified Timon, as the boulder flew right over his and Simba's head, and right into the leopard crowd, of which most managed to avoid it. A blaring trumpet rang through the air, and through the arch of the gate thundered Tantor, bent on thrashing the big cats for wronging his companions. Terk was mounted on the back of his neck, and she merely observed as the pachyderm merely stormed into the leopard ranks, hurling any assailants with his trunk, or kicking them away with his hind legs, if they were behind. He showed them no mercy, as he threw them about the bridge as if they were ragdolls.

"Get 'em, Tantor! Whack him on the head!" Terk goaded him, enthralled by the adrenaline of battle.

"Had enough pain yet?!" Timon taunted, as he shot yet another leopard with his make-shift weapon. It now seemed as though our heroes were indeed unstoppable, even though they were greatly outnumbered. However, one crafty leopard managed to sneak over to Pumbaa and pounce on him from behind, throwing both the hog and Timon off balance. Just as Timon screamed in horror, the spotted feline grinned, and unsheathed its claws. Sadly, it wasn't long before an upright, hairless form leaped from the gate, over Tantor's back, and to the leopard himself, drop-kicking him off the warthog, and thus, saving his life. It was Tarzan. Once he arrived, the group closed ranks, with the King of the Apes standing at the head of them, his spear aimed straight towards the waiting leopards, with a warlike, angry look on his face.

Sensing that the commotion has stopped, Waridi, the leopard leader, pushed through the yellow sea of spots, only to see the man that killed some of his kind in battle, and threatened others. Coldly and condescendingly, the alpha leopard spoke: "Ah, Tarzan... It's been a long time."

"Long enough for you to learn where your place is, Waridi. But you didn't." countered the King of the Apes.

Waridi: "You have quite some nerve to talk about whose place is where, considering that you place yourself between that insolent cub and his well-deserved fate. But no matter: any friend of those savanna dwelling slobs is an enemy of ours!" That said, the big cat made a short lunge with his paws, snarling ferociously.

Tarzan was quick enough to dodge these attacks, and before his adversary could try anything else, he thrusted his spear directly in his direction, to keep him at bay, and far from his companions: "I'm not going to warn you again: stay away from my troop, and stay away from the Hotan pride."

Waridi, who was crouching defensively, rose to a normal posture once more, and addressed the King of the Apes: "You can't protect that lion cub forever, man-ape. It's only a matter of time before any lionkind living in this jungle come to my claws in the end." With these words, Waridi turned to leave, but then remembered to tell Tarzan something he found out through patrols: "By the way... congratulations on that new whelp of yours." With these words, Waridi left, moving towards the temple, with all the other leopards following suit.

Tarzan was utterly shocked by the realization that Waridi knew that his son, Jack, was born. As he stood still in catatony, his angry expression melted into one of deep concern. His thoughts immediately flashed forward into imagining a gruesome scenario of the leopards invading his home, and taking his baby son while he is still young and helpless. Soon after, his mind flashed back to the way his own family died: by the claws of the leopard Sabor, who killed his real parents, just before he was found by his foster parents. After this, his mind was already made up: "I must not allow this to happen."

After Waridi's departure, an angry Terk could no longer contain herself, and shouted out to the arrogant leopard, who payed no heed to what she was saying: "Oh, yeah?! When Simba grows up, he'll kick all your butts from here to Victoria Falls, you hear?!" she then threw a stone towards the leaving leopards. Now that Simba had been rescued, everyone cheered and celebrated, except for Tarzan, who looked on solemnly, making sure that the leopards were gone for now.

"Gee, Tarzan. Did you notice that burst of speed he got with that spear? Ain't that a kick in the butt?!" Timon noted, before he began to laugh at his own pun, while Tarzan seemed to be quite unphased. It took the meerkat a few seconds to realize this, and to be silent, once he noticed that the man was in a much too serious mood to pay attention to jokes. However, it wasn't long before a terrified scream filled the jungle, and everyone stood as still as the surrounding trees. Not before long, a fruit-stained mandrill leaped out of the brush: it was Zutho! He was covered from head to toe in bananas, mango juice and coconut milk, and was fleeing for dear sanity, as he bore a crazed expression on his face. He had finally paid the price for his lies and mischief, as it was no other than Flynt and Mungo who showered him with fruit for everything he had done.

" **Enough!** " Screamed the mandrill, as he fled, followed by the two whimsical gorillas, who seemed to be very pleased with finally taking it out on the foolish trickster, as they laughed hysterically at his reactions, still hurling fruit in his direction, even landing a few more hits. Simba could also notice that Sukari was with them as well!

Flynt clapped his hands in laughter, and then addressed Tarzan, who was also amused by this slapstick comedy: "Tarzan, you should've seen that mook's face!" as he continued to mutter in laughter.

"Totally the best laugh I had in years..." Mungo said, calming down a bit after his previous fit of laughter. Both of the gorillas were also pleased to see that Simba was alive and well, and that their mission to save him was a success.

Naturally, Sukari couldn't help herself, and immediately ran to her lover's side: "Simba!" she nuzzled him affectionately, and rested her head onto his chest, more glad than anything that he was alright. It seemed that she was to thank for setting the whole plan in motion, and for that, the young male lion was grateful.

"Are you okay?" he asked her caringly.

"Thanks to Tarzan, I am." she reassured him, and then noticed a few cuts and scratches that were still bleeding a bit, and started to lick them clean, to help Simba in whatever way she could. Even though it stung Simba at first, he was quick to stay still, and let the young lioness do the work she intended to do.

"Thanks..." the golden lion said unto her, and then raised his head to face a stern Tarzan: "You too, Tarzan."

Tarzan wanted to know more about how the two adolescent lions got into this mess in the first place, so he began to inquire: "Simba, where were you two hunting when the leopards attacked you?"

Simba quickly replied, somewhat puzzled: "The clearing right under Mazimba ridge. Why?"

The Ape Man was not pleased by this realization... Never before had the spotted predators dared to venture anywhere closer to the Hotan pride other than the clearing where he saw them a year ago, but now, it was very clear that they used the temple of Opar as a rally point for even more supporters, and seeing how many there were at the temple right now, it couldn't get much worse. He then spoke: "They're expanding their territory... I never even dreamed that they'd come so close to the pride's territory. We'll have to change our nesting spot, and quickly. There's no doubt that they'll go out looking for us when they regroup, especially when they're so close to us. I won't risk any of your lives for the sake of the leopards."

Terk then remembered something Tarzan had forgotten, that concerned him: "Um, Tarzan? Aren't you forgetting something?"

The King of the Apes paused for a while, because it took him some time to recall his plans. Then it finally came to him: they were late for Jack's induction to the troop. He gasped clumsily: "We're late for Dum Dum night!"

Timon was confused by this new notion: "Say what?"

"We have to celebrate Jack's acceptance into the troop!" Tarzan explained.

"Auntie K's not gonna be too happy about this..." Terk remarked, noting that their arrival back to the den would be very untimely.

Sukari was curious about this new event, and saw it as a chance to get to know the troop that helped her save Simba: "Can we come?"

"It's usually reserved for the troop alone, but in your case, you don't have to ask. Come on!" Tarzan motioned, then jumped onto Tantor's back, and without much to mull over, the group headed towards the nest.


	19. Dum Dum Night

With much fanfare, Simba's rescue was a complete success. But now, the group had to attend an event that the gorillas have held sacred for thousands of years: a holiday ritual filled with dance, music and food, upon which the troop celebrated the birth of a new baby in the troop, and blessed his/her life in the years to come, rejoicing that their numbers have grown one stronger. It has since been remembered as a Dum Dum night, because the apes would beat on lumps of wood and stone, as if playing drums. On certain occasions, Dum Dum nights were held on other joyful celebrations as well, such as the celebration of a new troop leader in case the previous one had been vindictive, or unjust, or upon the induction of a rogue gorilla into the troop. Whatever the case was, it was one of the happiest festivities in the day-to-day lives of the gorillas.

However, with the arrival of the Porters, this Dum-Dum was about to have a different sound, because with their help, the apes managed to salvage some human objects like various metalwork, cutlery and pottery. All of these new objects, coupled with natural resonators like wood, and various stones, expanded the compendium of sounds that could be produced, in order to create livelier and more diverse compositions on the spot. And in this case, a large drum set was indeed prepared, and the apes were already trying them out, due to the troop leader's absence.

"Where's Tarzan?" Taug asked, scratching his belly in an unamused manner, because he was growing impatient for having to wait so long without eating. Obviously, his corpulent build told that he loved to chow.

"Oh, I can't believe this..." Jane frowned, placing her right palm over her forehead, as she held the little Jack in her lap: "Where is he off to, when it's his own son's ceremony?"

"I don't understand..." a dumbfounded Kala also said, feeling somewhat insulted, before her head turned to the sound of shaking leaves and rumbling earth. There was no doubt that something was coming, as shown by the sheer intensity. The obese brown gorilla twitched his head as the drum set began to shake from the tremors. Before long, a large mass of living tissue, in the form of an elephant, accompanied by several other creatures, skidded to a stop in front of the Dum-Dum stage.

"Don't start it yet!" They all screamed in unison.

"It's about time..." Jane said, while baby Jack only let out a cooing laugh. Kala, however, was not so happy.

"Tarzan, you've gotten way too much nerve over the years. Where have you been all this time?!" the brown-pelted female ape chided her adoptive son, who was taken off guard by her raising her voice all of the sudden. In the midst of this, Simba felt a desire to explain the truth to the mother gorilla. Therefore, he stepped ahead.

"It's my fault, Kala." the golden adolescent spoke out, shifting the female gorilla's gaze to himself: "I got myself in a fix that I couldn't escape on my own, and Tarzan came to rescue me from the leopards." The very mention of the lesser big cats was enough to loosen the tension Kala had in the beginning. She was just as astounded as everyone else to realize that leopards have come so close to them.

"Leopards? Where?" the shocked ape asked.

"In the old ruins." Tarzan answered: "We have to move out of here at first light."

"Good grief..." the elder gorilla sighed. The others, however, rejoiced to see Simba after a long absence. They ran up to him, to greet him with great happiness.

"Simba!" one specimen shouted out with glee.

"Long time, no see." a child beckoned.

"Yeah, it's good to be back, guys." the half-maned young lion smiled cheerfully, and in the midst of the greetings, he recalled that he had a special introduction to make. He was bringing an unofficially invited guest (namely Sukari), and Tarzan's confirmation of her attendance had to be made public. Therefore, he coughed in order to gather some attention: "Boys and girls, I have a special announcement to make. Tarzan allowed me to bring a single guest to this Dum Dum night, and I think it's about time you've finally met this beautiful young lady." With that, the adolescent male lion stepped aside, to reveal Sukari to the troop. All she could show at this moment was a shy smile, as the apes looked upon her with curious gazes.

"Good evening, everyone." the female introduced herself shyly, slowly emerging into full view: "I'm Sukari."

"Welcome to the Dum Dum night, Sukari." Kala was the first to greet the young lioness: "My name is Kala. I'm Tarzan's foster mother and I'm delighted to have finally met you."

"Well, we've only heard nice things about you here." Jane said with a smile, still cradling Jack in her arms: "I'm Jane."

A baby gorilla approached Simba from behind and clumsily climbed upon his leg, and onto his back. This immediately drew Sukari's attention, as the little youngling got up to groom her partner's still maturing mane. Eventually, it picked out a small bug and slurped it clean off its finger.

"So, that's why your mane never goes dark..." the young lioness quipped.

"When's dinner gonna come around? I'm starving..." Pumbaa beckoned.

"Well, I'm not really the one in charge of dinner this time." Kala said, directing her gaze towards Jane, whose eyes widened in realization that she had forgotten to check on her cooking meals. She frightfully gasped and jolted toward her cooking spit, which was set upon a camp fire not too far.

"How typical of a newly-wed..." Archimedes winked, with an elderly chuckle.

"So, what is for dinner?" Sukari asked.

"Oh, just the regular stuff. Bananas, mangoes, coconuts and all that..." Terk, began to explain, until she saw that Sukari's reaction was a slightly dissatisfied deadpan, and for obvious reasons: "...Oh. Right. Well, what is for these two, Tarzan?"

"Jane said she'd be roasting some venison from the local prey animals." Tarzan responded.

"Roasted meat?" Sukari asked with prejudice, wondering how burned food could be any good.

"Don't worry, hon. It's actually amazing..." Simba licked his chops, reasurring his sweetheart that it was just fine.

Timon suddenly remembered something that was quite important for the festivity: "Hey, let's go get ready for the sonic enjoyment for the Dum Dum night!"

"What do you mean by that?" Sukari asked curiously.

"Well, my dear young lady, a fine meal isn't a fine meal, without a little - music!" the meerkat grinned, then addressed Pumbaa, Tantor and the other gorillas: "Now, let's go get the stuff! Chop chop!" They soon joined the meerkat to gather their assortment of musical instruments.

* * *

Soon, everyone was gathered by the cooking spit, set above a campfire, encircling it as they sat. When everyone was in position, Tarzan rose up to his feet.

"Brothers and sisters of our beloved troop, and dear guests!" the troop leader began to administer a spoken prologue: "It is with greatest pride and utmost joy that we welcome a new spark in the fire of our family. No less, my son, and my first child - Jack, or Korak, in the ape-tongue. Let his heart join with the heart of our troop, and let it beat more strongly, for he was born one of us."

Suddenly, a thumping two-beat percussion ensemble rang through the jungle, in the rhythm of a beating heart. It was played by the apes, who used man-made instruments that were salvaged by the Porters, as well as makeshift percussion and woodblocks that the apes made from mahogany and bamboo, with the help of Tarzan. It struck once more, then again, then again, and again... the tempo increased with each strike, and soon, each of the smaller elements started playing its own beats, making the rhythm ever more complex and powerful, with the largest of drums still providing the main, heart-like beat.

Sukari, caught in the midst of this, was overwhelmed with awe and emotion. To hear such a thunderous and mighty welcome was surely uplifting, and she couldn't get enough of this tingling sensation. Every hair on her little scruff stood up in ecstasy, and a wide smile embellished her gentle face, as she took in this truly grand moment. She had never heard anything like this. Only the bellows of beasts and the chirping of birds, but never something so elaborate and heartfelt as the sound of music. She heaved a sigh, as she leaned her head against Simba's shoulder.

After several minutes, one united, powerful strike ended it all, and the jungle fell into a nigh deathly silence. And thus, Jane got up as well, to present young baby Jack, who was crying from the noise of the drums, but quickly resumed a happy attitude. Sukari couldn't help but smile adorably when she saw the baby boy, finding him to be simply beautiful.

"Thank you. All of you..." Jane said, with tears of joy rolling down her cheeks. Her husband gently wrapped his arms around her waist, and looked upon their son. Soon, he could notice that he was already yawning, and very clearly sleepy.

"I'm sorry." Jane said, as she wiped her face: "I have to put him to bed. I'll be back soon." and thus, she went towards the nest, to gently wrap him into a secured bedding, far from view, and under the watch of Taug.

"So..." Tarzan then spoke: "Who's hungry?"

* * *

That being said, a feast was soon prepared. The gorillas and Tantor feasted on a large assortment of fruit from all around the jungle, whereas Timon and Pumbaa came up with their own little menu: a number of roasted insects, snails and larvae. The cooked meat that Jane prepared was first served to Simba and Sukari, by none other than Jane.

"There you go, you lovely little lovebirds." the young woman said, pinching each of their cheeks with glee, before moving on to check on the rest of the food that needed serving.

Simba saw that Sukari needed a little persuasion with this, so he urged her on: "Well, go on. Give it a shot."

The lioness curled her lips at first, but then reached to take a bite out of the steak she was served. Slowly, she tore off the bit of meat, but once she savored it, she gulped it up in the blink of an eye, and no sooner did she reach for more. It was not like raw flesh: for one, it was soft, and for two, it was seasoned magnificently, which added to the flavor.

"And?" she could hear her partner ask.

After gulping up the last mouthful with her eyes shut, she cheerfully giggled: "This is better than raw meat! I love it!"

"Yeah?" the young golden lion asked, bearing a smug grin on his maw, because he already assured her beforehand that it was going to be delicious.

"Yeah!" she confirmed once more, before they both continued to eat with great pleasure.

Timon, on the other hand, joyfully ate several bugs off a grill stick, crunching them off one at a time: "You gotta thank Jane for coming up with this roasting thing... Go figure fire would be so helpful!" he chuckled, as Pumbaa gummed down several snails with some roots that he dug up earlier.

"Like they say, you gotta credit where credit's due!" the warthog said proudly, laying a front hoof over his chest, as he was in a seated posture.

"Ugh..." Timon frowned at Pumbaa's apparent malapropism: "It's _you gotta_ _ **give**_ _credit where credit's due_. Don't make a spectacle of yourself by saying it out loud." The meerkat did have a point, as Flynt and Mungo were chuckling at him for this.

"Oh..." Pumbaa deadpanned in realization, then realized that Simba had just finished his meal, and that he and Timon had grubs to spare: "Hey, Timon. Shouldn't we offer some to Simba?"

"Sure, why not?" the meerkat agreed, as they moved on, with a platter made from a dead pond turtle's shell with several grilled larvae. As they approached, Timon graciously greeted them: "Greetings, your highness. Would you help yourself to some of our fine specialties?"

"Hmm..." the male lion puzzled as he took a look inside: "Let me see..."

Without much nitpicking, he pulled out a sizable beetle larva, that was as long as his paw. Pumbaa frowned upon this, because he was hoping it would be saved for him. Sukari, however, started to feel disgusted.

"You're not going to eat that, are you?" she asked, hoping for a negative answer. Much to her chagrin, Simba slurped the grub away like a spaghetti, which made her stomach turn twice over and her head slightly dizzy. She then looked away and lowered her head in utter disbelief, murmuring to herself: "No, I'm not seeing this. I'm not seeing this!"

Simba, however, heaved a satisfied sigh, and spoke out like he did when he first tried grubs: "Slimy, yet satisfying... With a crispy touch, no less!"

Everyone around, with the exception of Sukari, laughed heartily. Simba then leaned over to her, in order to explain: "Aw, come on! I know it looks gross, but it's also easier to eat than a fresh kill! Wanna try?"

"Not funny, Simba..." Sukari said, not at all amused by this.

Everyone continued to laugh and feast, as they enjoyed an evening of peace and quiet, where no one had any ill will...


End file.
